Misfits
by A Wordsmith
Summary: Ash Ketchum never did things by half. If he wasn't getting his preferred starter, he'd take the battlehungry ekans over any other.
1. Viridian City

_DISCLAIMER: I do not, and will not (maybe), own Pokemon._

EDIT 7/3/18: I have edited this chapter almost completely! I hope you guys like it a bit better, and I've taken away a fair amount of cringe that I didn't notice I had written before. And also, you know, a war. That's new.

Sunlight gleamed warm and bright over the sleepy Pallet Town, the sun barely slinking over the edge of the horizon. A pidgey fluttered over from the small clump of trees in one house's backyard, flapping its golden brown wings. It started up a pleasant trilling sound that buzzed through the air, singing cheerfully without a care in the world.

Ash Ketchum, self-proclaimed best ten-year-old of them all, glared darkly at it.

He had pressed snooze _once_ on his alarm clock and somehow didn't wake up until the third time it went off, putting him at waking up fifteen minutes later than he had prayed for. Now he had ten minutes to eat, change, and get his shoes on and five minutes to get to Professor Oak's lab.

The lab that was ten minutes away.

Growling, he finished slipping on his blue jeans and then ripped off his pajama top, throwing on the first shirt he could find. His socks were grabbed from the floor, each a different color. He could change them later, after he got his pokemon.

He had turned the amazing age of ten only three weeks ago, and had been ready to run off on his adventure at the drop of a hat. Though he didn't know too much about the technicalities, his mother wouldn't shove him out in the world as it was now with no preparation.

The world was still reeling from the war that had struck it across the face fifteen years ago. The whole thing had started so small, perhaps that was why no one had noticed the turmoil rising in the world of Kalos.

Team Flare was a minor problem, similar to Team Rocket, which flickered beneath the surface of Kanto's own problems. They harnessed the power of power plants for no apparent reason, but the equivalent of ACE trainers there were able to handle and chase away the grunts. No one knew why they stole power, but it was considered to be a minor inconvenience to the people of Kalos, who had multiple backups in order to keep them safe.

But then an ACE trainer was found murdered outside of Lysandre Cafe, words carved into the corpse. _For no longer will this world be sad and cold and dead_.

The culprit wasn't caught, the body was taken as evidence before being sent back to their parents, and Kalos was confused. At least until the ACE trainer's partner, stricken with grief, crept into the cafe and found a secret passageway into a basement below the street. Dozens of stores were connected, the openings hidden behind walls and paintings and locked doors, and they all led to an immense underground facility with a size larger than the base of the largest mountain. Inside were horrible things.

Mutated pokemon, forced colorations, hundreds of rock types. From the notes that were found, it was discovered they were trying to unlock immortality for themselves and their pokemon, and rock types were largely considered to be immortal as none had died except for in battles or starvation.

The owner of the cafe, Lysandre, went missing and wasn't found again except for as the leader of Team Flare, harnessing the power of an ancient device that none had ever seen before.

Kalos panicked and called for help, sending messages to all regions over the world. Kanto was one to send their assistance, first with researchers that were going to help figure out the strange power Team Flare had with the device their leader used. Thirty high class researchers each with several pokemon to defend themselves and the guard or several ACE trainers.

The boat never made it to Kalos. Lysandre appeared on the back of a gyarados, spitting out a Hyper Beam that destroyed the boat's camera. Thirty researchers, twenty ACE trainers, thrown beneath the sea. Their pokeballs were never recovered.

Kanto got serious. Two hundred trainers, all immensely powerful, nearly the entire cast that had participated in the Conference the previous year. The well-known Lt. Surge was part of that crew, armed with his powerful electric types. All of them wielded as many pokemon as they could possibly have, limits disregarded. Kanto watched them grimly, hundreds of other trainers from other regions coming to assist Kalos in their time of need.

Half didn't last past the second week.

Lysandre's power was revealed when people screamed out for their legendaries to save them, only to find out that Team Flare had spent over fifty years creating the device from ancient times in order to tap into Xerneas' inert power while it was in dormant sleep. The fairy type power crushed entire towns without seeming to need to take breath, Lysandre flying above the world with power behind his back.

In the end, Team Flare's undoing was the ACE trainer they had murdered. The partner, still stricken with grief, searched for a year until they found Xerneas' sleeping location. They and their pokemon sacrificed their lives in order to wake the legendary up, stopping Lysandre's draw of its power. With a shrieking rage, the fairy type crushed Team Flare and left Lysandre's bleeding body in front of his old cafe.

The world was shaken. Legendaries were known for their power but they had been dormant for decades, not showing their face in the slightest. Now one had both destroyed and saved Kalos.

The surviving trainers were sent back to their regions. Kalos couldn't spare any reward for their service with the destruction and in fact closed their sides to the world for ten long years, rebuilding as best they could.

Kanto suffered. Over seventy five percent of their current trainer population was dead. They dangled as many carrots as they could in front of trainers' noses in order to build the world back up again. Longer training time for the League. Increased number of tournaments with better prizes. The Safari Zone. And of course, immensely high prizes for any trainer that captured anyone from Team Rocket.

It wasn't enough, but it was a start. Team Rocket sank down even farther and while they couldn't crush it completely, it barely showed its face in the past fifteen years.

But now trainers were better, the generation gap was fading, and the immediate aggression most pokemon had after the war was almost completely gone. Ten years old, and Ash Ketchum knew he was ready to go.

At least until Professor Oak had called his mother the night before he was ready to go, saying that it would be better for him to wait until both Gary and Leaf had turned ten as well. Ash had overhead _that_ little tidbit and begun to fight it immediately, but his mother just held up her hand and continued listening. Professor Oak had brought up a few more points: a cold front was passing through as the bare dredges of winter fought for life, a spearow flock was migrating over, they were friends and probably wanted to fight each other. Anyway, the three starters he had were rebellious at best and weren't quite suited to the travel yet.

He had _still_ been ready to go until his mother stopped him and made him wait the three weeks. Oh, how he had sulked and whined and complained, but looking back, it was the right thing to do. His original plan had been to run out the door the second he had gotten his pokemon without even heading back home, just off to see the world to make _sure_ he beat Gary in every way possible and became the Pokemon Master. But he had been woefully unprepared.

His bag consisted of two sets of clothing, a water bottle, a single blanket he had rolled up tight, and then two entire boxes of travel bars. He wouldn't have made it through half of the Viridian Forest, probably stumbling back to Pallet hungry and cold.

So instead he and his mother had sat down for those three weeks and _planned_. His goal was to go to the League and cream whoever was the current champion. Delia Ketchum - his mother - had winced but said nothing, idly asking him what badges he was going to get to be able to go there, and in what order.

He had just stared at her blankly.

What pokemon are you planning on capturing? You'll need either a well-rounded team or several types that are your strong points and then a few pokemon that can tackle their weaknesses.

He blinked several times.

Ash, please tell me you even have a map, or a plan on what cities you are going to.

Not a response.

For the love of Mew, do you even know what starter you want?

It hadn't taken him a while to understand that if he had left as soon as he could, there was no way that he could ever have beaten Gary or Leaf or the League. He would have sputtered up dry within the first couple of weeks, probably only making it to the first city by sheer luck. No, whatever he had been doing for those first years hadn't been what he needed to actually train pokemon.

He winced even as he searched his room for his hat. He knew _exactly_ what he had been doing.

Watching old pokemon battles and always cheering for Lance. He could tell you every pokemon and move they had used, but ask him for even the first three moves from a pidgey's moveset and there would be nothing.

Gary had studied under Professor Oak, his grandfather. He probably already knew everything and anything that had to do with pokemon.

It wasn't fair, he had whined on the second day of the three weeks. He already knows so much.

So then beat him, Delia had said firmly. Beat him all the way to the league.

There wasn't much time, but two weeks was enough to gather the proper supplies and make a map of the general idea of where he wanted to go. His mother had stopped him from listing the pokemon he wanted, which he understood, to keep him from getting disappointed or only hunting down those. The final week was spent researching pokemon and battling strategies.

He had started with the starters - they were the most important thing he could learn right now. In three weeks, he would be lucky to have some ideas about the starter's best battles and what pokemon he could take down with them.

Bulbasaur were rather curious. Grass types didn't always have the best defense, and it didn't take much for fire types to rip through them, though their partial poison typing helped somewhat. But they would have to get close, and that was a feat within itself. Their vines, coming up from the bulbs on their backs, could block opponents even without moves and only became more powerful with things like Power Whip. They could use spores to slow down, weaken, and even put other pokemon to sleep, and then throttle them to unconsciousness. They were even the best for capturing, if you didn't mind doing it rather differently. It was standard practice for bulbasaur to hold the wild pokemon with their vines and launch attacks at it, setting it up for an easy capture. Their fully evolved form, venusaur, was enormous and while it wasn't fast, its vines were, and they were a beast on any battlefield.

Squirtle weren't very powerful with attacking in their first evolutionary stage, but that didn't mean they were weak. Their shell was tougher than any metal and only grew thicker with age, and so by the time a squirtle was ready to evolve, they could shrug off pretty powerful moves with Withdraw. They had the highest defense of any starter and could hold their own against even super-effective types. Using mainly weakening attacks, they could get a pokemon down low and then bash it in with their thick skull or thicker shell. If their trainer trained them with a barrage of assisting and status moves, they would be ni-unstoppable in battle. And their final evolution was an absolute monster. Standing taller than an average man with full-sized cannons on its back, blastoise were pokemon to be feared. Their Hydro Pumps could cut through solid steel and if trained right, they were tanks that could hold their own in any battle.

Charmander would go down with two hits from a water-type, but that was if the other pokemon wasn't already unconscious on the ground. Charmander were filled to the brim with insane speed and strength, leaving the other two starters behind. They focused all of their power on insanely strong attack moves and even when they were weak, their ability Blaze took over and made them stronger. Their speed allowed them to run across the field and strike before the other even knew what was happening, and with moves like Agility they were nearly uncatchable. As they evolved they got rowdier and rowdier, often not listening to their trainers as their lust for battle rose higher. But if a trainer could get the behemoths to listen to them, charizard were a force to be reckoned with, and even Lance, the Champion of Indigo, had one. It wasn't his strongest, sure, but he had raised it from the start and many a time had it taken out Lance's opponents.

But Ash didn't want a charmander or a squirtle for his starter. No, he wanted a bulbasaur.

They were rather weak with attack and defense at the start, as grass wasn't the hardiest substance out there. But they had the largest variety of moves to draw from. Any move they could get their hold would be only amplified and strengthened if they got their opponent in their vines, and it would be almost too easy to catch another pokemon for his team with a bulbasaur. Yes, he loved speed and bulbasaur didn't have much, but if he could get his starter to only run sprints every day then that would be an advantage he could snatch up. And bulbasaur, while they weren't mellow in battle, were often more calm and relaxed outside of it, allowing trainers to be able to spend time with their other pokemon instead of having to devote all of their energy trying to keep their charmander from burning down the forest.

His only problem?

Leaf.

The girl had smacked down on all of them if they even tried to say they wanted the little battler, and while she much preferred fighting types bulbasaur was her next choice. Gary had long-since laid claim to the squirtle, but if he got to the lab first then he could grab up the bulbasaur and be out of there before she even realized. Bulbasaur even had the advantage over squirtle, so he could beat Gary if they decided to do a battle right after.

His second problem?

He was late.

His mom had promised to cook breakfast for him and he could smell the wafting scent of pancakes drifting up to his bedroom, which was perfect. If he wanted to be there on time, he could grab three or four and run with them.

He'd be back after he got his pokemon, and then they could sit down and have a real breakfast. She'd like that more, and they could talk over his new bulbasaur and come up with strategies and everything like that.

His shoes were by the door. He leapt down the stairs like a man possessed, just in his pants, shirt, coat, and socks. His hat was gripped in his hand.

Delia looked up at him, eyes curious and head tilted to the side. "Well well, sleepyhead! I thought you'd be up before this!"

There were two plates stacked with three pancakes. He lunged for them even as he kicked his sneakers closer to him.

"I'm really sorry, Mom! But I'm late and if I don't get there then Leaf will take the bulbasaur-"

She raised a hand to stop him. "I understand. Go quickly, Ash!"

He grinned at her, finished slipping on his shoes, and bolted out the door.

As he ran, he ripped into each of the pancakes. His stomach was rumbling and bubbling like a million butterfree had made it their home, and he kind of wished he had grabbed his bag so he could take a sip of water.

Pallet Town melted away under his feet as he ran, even though he wasn't really in shape. But that was what being a trainer was for - he would definitely build muscles traveling across the land of Kanto and training with his pokemon.

He would be even more strong than Gary when this was all over, as the boy had slipped in enough hints about him possibly getting car rides from friends through heavy forests to save time.

They had met just yesterday and Gary had told them that he already knew exactly where he was going. Ash thought back to his plans and winced, but he knew he was more prepared this time around. His mother had stuffed hundreds of ways of dealing with pokemon into his mind and cooking wasn't necessary at the point he was at now. He'd probably just survive off of berries and bars, and the League had several companies that provided pokemon food of great quality. For his plan, well, that wasn't as stable as the rest of his ideals, but his was easy to adapt. He was going to follow the routes from town to town and make detours to any place that looked interesting. There was always the chance he would change it all up, tackling Blaine right after Brock, but he didn't have any time restraints like Gary, who had planned to make it to a breeder's store in only three months, right after they released their newest batch of eggs for sale.

He rounded the corner and saw Professor Oak's lab, gleaming large and white before the enormous fields behind it. Splotches of pokemon danced and ran across them, nearly every species imaginable. Most traveled in herds, as they did in the wild. Pokemon trainers sent over the pokemon they didn't have on their team, and Professor Oak took care of them. Most slept in their pokeballs during the night but his automatic recall and release system allowed them plenty of free time. A nidoran herd, headed by an enormous nidoqueen, lumbered past the back of the house. He ran closer, taking the steps to the wooden door three at a time.

Taking a second to catch his breath, he straightened and knocked as powerfully as he could. There was a pause before the door swung open, revealing Professor Oak.

His posture was a bit slumped and exhaustion glittered in his eyes, but he still smiled and waved Ash in. He trotted inside, blinking twice to adjust to the darker inside.

"Welcome! Ash, you're right on time, though is that a bit of pancake I see in your hand?"

He blushed and quickly popped the rest in his mouth. It had been a delicious pancake.

"Wel.." Professor Oak cleared his throat and spread his arms, standing in the front doorway as if a boulder blocking entrance in a valley. "This is the pokemon lab of me, Professor Oak."

Ash grinned. "I know."

Oak laughed and reached out to ruffle his hair. "Of course you do. Your mother isn't here, I hope? There's no need for her to work today."

He shook his head. "No, she stayed at home."

"Well, be sure to talk to her before you go off on your journey," he hummed, walking to the other room.

Ash nodded though he couldn't see. "I will. I'm not leaving here until noon, and I'm spending all of that time talking with her."

"That's good. Come along."

And then they were in a slightly smaller room, one that was dwarfed by an enormous circular table in the middle. It was glossy and silver, the design etched with furrowed lines to pull energy across its surface. The table was one of the most modern things Ash had ever seen, but he knew if he went into Professor Oak's actual labs in the back he would probably keel over from sheer amazement. It held three pokeballs sitting in the middle, arranged triangularly.

"Now, before you choose your pokemon, Ash, I'd like the make an apology. I'm sure you are well aware of the regular three starters, but through a terrible chain of events the only two I have available this year are bulbasaur and squirtle. There was a slight problem-"

Ash ignored everything he was saying and lunged for the pokeball with a peeling green leaf sticker on top, cradling it in his hand. It was the regular weight, though pokemon turned weightless when sucked inside. A red and white sphere he had been craving ever since he turned four years old-

 _Please please let Leaf not have gotten here before me,_ he prayed.

And then he threw the pokeball.

It bounced once along the floor and clattered emptily to the ground. There was no pokemon inside, not a bulbasaur, not anything.

Professor Oak bent and picked it up, glaring at Ash with a steely eye. "If you would be so kind as to let me finish, please!"

He blushed and shuffled his feet, but even his guilt couldn't stave off the empty feeling in his chest. Though his mother had told him to be prepared for disappointment, he had been so _sure_ that he could get his bulbasaur. So positive. So ready.

"As I was saying, I've had a few problems. As normal, I received three new starters a month ago to mellow them out and make them prepared for starting trainers. The bulbasaur was annoyed by its pokeball's existence and the squirtle a bit of an insomniac, but I was able to get them ready."

"But the charmander… it was wild. I've never seen anything like it, and it nearly torched down my lab on the first day. Of course, I merely thought that it was the restlessness of starters getting out of their nursery for the first time, but it was much more dangerous than that. It was only supposed to know Ember, but with the strength it was using, I wouldn't be surprised if it was well on its way to learning Flamethrower. I took it out to my charizard to see whether he could teach it some manners, but the charmander attempted to attack him! A fully grown charizard, his elder."

He narrowed his eyes but the annoyance wasn't directed at Ash. Professor Oak steepled his fingers and sighed, heavily. "The breeder the League sets me up with made a terrible mistake. As you know with pokemon, they get their species from their mother and, if the parents spend a large amount of time with the developing egg, the father can pass along an egg move or several. But the issue comes int he fact that the father passes down its temperament as well, whether it spends time around the egg or not."

"And the charizard father of the egg was one that had fought in the Great War. Even fifteen years later and it was battleready, born into a time period where it never had a time where it wasn't preparing to fight, recovering from a fight, or fighting. And now it doesn't know how to live without fighting - its a miracle they managed to breed it in the first place. But the baby charmander came into the world wanting to fight people it didn't even know, and that trait came out in unsustainable, unstoppable aggression."

"I decided then and there that it wasn't suitable for any starting trainer and was forced to give him to a different, more experienced trainer, one whom I'm hoping will be able to curb his anger. While she's focusing on entering the Conference, she's been training for almost five years and can handle the extra worry."

Ash blanched. That had never happened before, Professor Oak not being able to prepare a starter for them. "Then what about the third starter, sir?"

Oak sighed. "Well, Gary took the squirtle around fifteen minutes ago and Leaf took the bulbasaur at the same time."

Ash cursed inside of his mind. Now he didn't even get one of the starters, the ones he had planned and studied for. And with his apparent luck, he would probably end up with a rattata or a pidgey, pokemon that were already found in high number around Pallet. Gary's squirtle, while wasn't strong now, would swell in power as a starter, because they were specifically bred to be strong enough to keep their trainer alive for the length of their journey.

"What's left for me?" He asked, quite proud of himself that he sounded perfectly calm. His mind was anything but that.

"Well." Professor Oak frowned, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I'm required by law to give you a pokemon - oh Ash, don't look at me like that, you know I'd give you one either way - but as I have made the decision to not give out the starter pokemon they sent me and I was the one to order three for the three of you this season, the League can give me no pokemon and I can't give you a pokemon another trainer has. I've captured a fair amount of wild pokemon, and these are the ones I think might be the best. This first one has a few issues - one glaring major one, really - but if you connect, I'll be willing to give it to you."

He grabbed the third pokeball, one that was unlabeled. He gently tossed it on the table, and it split apart with a burst of brilliant red light. The two halves popped back into his hand as a pokemon appeared on the table.

It was small, only slightly higher than a foot tall. It blinked up in the bright light with black eyes, no pupils in sight. There was a current racing over its thin golden fur, jagged tail twitching. It was shaped almost like a lightning bolt, which was how Ash was able to identify it. A pikachu, one with bright red cheek pouches already sparking with electricity. Strong for its apparent young age-

It finally focused on him and shrieked angrily, crouching defensively. Professor Oak winced and stepped back. Ash tilted his head, before carefully lowered himself to be not scary. He hunched his shoulders, looking softly into the pikachu's eyes. It stared back, black eyes narrowed.

"Hey there," he murmured. "I'm not going to hurt you, I promise-"

The pikachu barked furiously and fired a Thundershock attack.

Lightning crackled through his body. It stopped after a second, leaving his hair standing on end and the faintest smell of burnt hair. He gasped out a thin trickle of smoke.

And the pikachu snickered once before crouching again, static crackling. There was another furious shriek.

"Recall it!" He yelped, and Professor Oak quickly clicked the button on the pokeball. The pikachu disappeared with a squeak of protest, fading out in a burst of red mist.

"So." Professor Oak sighed. "I had expected you not connecting, I'm afraid. He's only been in my care for two weeks and has been furious that entire time, picking fights with every pokemon he comes across. But he's actually rather strong, right on the edge of what I allow for starters. Would you like to try with him?"

Ash paused. His first pokemon…

Pikachu were electric types, which would cream Gary's squirtle. While he was pretty sure they had a more limited moveset, he wasn't positive, and for all he knew it could learn incredible amounts. But while their body wasn't made to take hits, their speed could prevent most of them while blasting their opponents with electric type moves. They had an immensly powerful evolution that was even rumored to have a special form when evolved with a Thunder Stone from in the newest region, Aloha.

But that would be if he could even get the pokemon to listen to him. If he was out in the wild and attacked by a wild pokemon, would the pikachu even think twice about him? Would it even attempt to save him?

As much as he wanted it, his mother's words flitted through his head. _Your safety comes first_. "I'm sorry, professor, but I can't take this pokemon as my starter."

Oak sighed. "Well, I saw that coming. It was beyond a long stretch to see whether you two would connect, and I knew that it wouldn't happen after the first second. I actually caught him chewing on some power cables, completely wild. He definitely didn't like me."

"I'm sorry," he offered again, but Oak waved it off.

"Don't be. I'd have been surprised if it worked. Give me around ten minutes to pull up my second option."

And then he disappeared into the back of the lab, shoes clicking. A door pushed open, revealing a second's glimpse of endless rows of counters filled with machines and devices that he couldn't understand. Then it swung shut and left him alone.

Ash stared at the table, narrowing his eyes at the pokeball that held the pikachu. Would he have wanted that at all?

The answer came to him.

He did the right choice in not choosing the pikachu.

Maybe now he would get the pidgey. At least they were easier to train and couldn't kill him with Thundershocks.

Professor Oak appeared from the door again, brushing his shock of white hair back over his skull. There was a grin on his face, happy, clutching another pokeball. It also didn't have any form of marking, just a clean red and white surface. He carefully stepped forward, though he didn't throw it at once. But there hadn't been the tenseness that had been in his shoulders as he held the pikachu's pokemon. He seemed much more confident about this pokemon than the other one.

"He's been in my care for a rather long time for a starter, as I caught him more than four months ago bugging someone's garden. He may have a few more moves than normal, but he won't have very good control of them." Professor Oak turned more forward to him, pinching the pokeball between two fingers.

"The reason I showed you pikachu first despite him being angry at all humans is that this pokemon doesn't start very strong. A starter pokemon's first role is to defend its trainer from wild pokemon and the pikachu held enough strength to be able to do that. But this pokemon won't stay weak if you train him right and therefore has more potential to grow. He still has many more moves to learn."

"May I see him?" He asked as politely as he could. This could be his pokemon.

Professor Oak instead offered him the pokeball, and he took it gently, cradling it in his hands. It was smooth to the touch but not cold, let most metal one. He could almost feel the heat from the pokemon inside of it, a heartbeat tight beneath his fingertips.

He lobbed it as softly as he could. It rolled out of his hand and thudded against the ground, breaking open. The two halves snapped close before flying back into Professor Oak's hand.

The red light stretched out, elongating and curling thinner. Scarlet mist trickled over the floor as it hardened, atoms reforming and creating themselves again. In a second, it had made a pokemon.

It - he - was dark purple and about five feet long. He recognized him instantly. An ekans.

The poison-type snake pokemon hissed once, but in confusion, not anger. He pulled himself up, arching a third of his body of the ground. There was a thick band of dark golden around his neck, and his rattle was the same color.

Ash stared at him as he curled around himself, coiling into a small spiral. He turned to face him, head tilted to the side.

"This is ekans, the poison pokemon. He'll definitely make up for his lack of strength with sheer determination," Professor Oak chuckled.

Poison types. They didn't have many weaknesses and left devastating status conditions that were often a finishing move even if they couldn't last long enough to see the results. Bulbasaur were part poison type and he had done research on the basic moves and strategies. Kneeling, he stared closer at the pokemon.

Ekans were snake-like pokemon, which meant they were predators. Hunting pokemon that were stealth animals, striking like a whip before coiling up. In battle, he guessed they couldn't take the most hits despite their purple scales - their body was thin and light, able to be launched easily across a field. But they held a deceptive speed, somethign he greatly admired in pokemon.

He hissed again, flicking his tail. Golden eyes fixed onto his face, slitted pupils gleaming in the light. When stretched out, he would actually be almost a foot taller than Ash but he didn't feel threatened by the snake as it stuck a pale tongue out, tasting the air.

Ash slowly stretched a hand out, keeping his movements slow. The ekans looked at him curiously before sticking his head forward, his tongue brushing against his fingers. Ash barely held back a giggle.

"Hey, ekans," he said softly, drawing the pokemon's attention to his face. "I'm going to be going on a pokemon adventure across the world." The snake perked up, head tilted to one side as he slithered a few inches closer.

"I'm going to be a Pokemon Master, I've been dreaming about it since I was five years old. My greatest wish is to be the strongest I can become, which means I have to have strong pokemon. If you want, you can be my starter pokemon, and I'll train you to be stronger than any ekans ever. And then you'll be the strongest arbok out there, and we'll take down Lance together."

The ekans flicked his tail and hissed as soon as Ash mentioned strength, and at the name of his evolution he visibly straightened. This was a pokemon that wanted to be strong and Ash was going to give it to him, no matter what. "Do you want to come with me and become strong?"

There was only a moment of thinking before the snake hissed and nodded his head, violet scales catching the light and gleaming.

"I'll take him," he said quickly. He hissed up at him, still curious.

Professor Oak perked up, smiling wide. "Perfect! I know that he was going out of his mind, being trapped up in here. He's not the biggest fan of just wandering around on a ranch, and I was about to give him as a gift to a trainer just to get him out of here. I'm sure he'll enjoy this adventure more than you will."

He reared up even higher, falling still. His tail danced lightly, mouth popping open. He began to trill softly.

Ash frowned. "Isn't that a pidgey's-"

"Yes. Ekans have learned to mimic pidgey noises to attract them for food, and I've guessed that it probably means he's hungry. Now, for you to catch him."

Ash blinked at him. "What?"

"Well, a new feature added to pokeballs was ownership, to prevent stealing. You have to register pokeballs with your pokedex to have the pokemon inside to count as yours. The pokeball ekans is in is my pokeball. So here you go."

He turned around and grabbed a pokeball from a counter. Tossing it to Ash, he settled back and pulled out a machine.

"This revokes ownership," he explained, slipping his pokeball into a slot. "The other option, of course, is to break the pokeball, but that's not only expensive but wasteful - there's no reason to do that if you want to release a pokemon for whatever, just call me up." There was a beep and the pokeball flashed a bright white, shaking slightly in its confines before stilling. "Go ahead, Ash."

Ash stiffened, staring at the ekans. He blinked at him with brilliant yellow eyes.

He thought about tossing the pokeball but set it aside, kneeling about down again. He held up the pokeball and, letting the pokemon see it, tapped it on the tip of the ekans' nose even more gently than he thought he could have. The second it was pressed against scales it snapped open, scarlet mist billowing out and swallowing the pokemon. It flew back to Ash's hand, perfectly sized to fit in his fist.

There was a pokemon in his hand. He had a pokemon.

"Okay Ash, here's your pokedex and five more pokeballs! I would suggest scanning Ekans there. Just hold the pokeball next to the scanner, although you could also use it when he's released."

He did that, holding up the pokeball. There was a scanner on the back and he held the button of the pokeball against it, flicking the power switch. His pokedex blinked to life, humming softly as the scanner worked.

 _Ekans, the poison pokemon. Ekans often sneak into the nests to eat pidgey or spearow eggs or wait in the grasses to eat the pokemon instead. They coil upon themselves when they sleep to be able to strike in all directions, and often use their fangs and speed to their advantage._

 _This ekans is male with no held item. He knows the moves Wrap, Leer, Poison Sting, and Poison Fang. His ability is Shed Skin, which allows him to recover from poisoning or burns._

"Sweet," he murmured, staring at the pokeball.

"He has one egg move - Poison Fang. You can see that if you toggle the button right there- I will guess that he doesn't have much experience with it, as ekans are solitary creatures and he presumably wasn't trained by his parent. His first three moves will be much more powerful."

"How rare are egg moves?" He asked.

"Only uncommon, as in the wild many pokemon breed with those outside of their species and as such the father has many more opportunities to pass on moves. Now, of course, I'm not just giving you those for free," Professor Oak warned. "I know you are one of my chosen few I sponsor every six months but there's a reason for that. I believe you can help me just as much as I have helped you - that pokedex is made to scan every pokemon in the Kanto region, and I expect that you will find many of them and record their data so I can study it. You don't have to capture every pokemon or even scan them all - just your select team and maybe a few extras will be enough."

Ash nodded and grinned.

"Just make sure to stock up on potions and other supplies, and you should be free to go. Off to explore the brilliant and grand Kanto!"

Still grinning, Ash hugged the pokeball tighter to his chest and started the run home.

He got there in record time, feet kicking up dirt and dust. Leaf would probably still be at her home, but he hadn't seen Gary at the pokemon lab, so he had probably already gone off on his adventure.

Finally his house came in sight, and he finished his sprint up to the door and burst inside.

Delia blinked once before breaking into an enormous grin as he trotted through the door. "Ash! Did you get the bulbasaur?"

Catching his breath, he shook his head. "No, Leaf already snatched it. Gary took the squirtle."

She smiled, stepping forward to put a hand on his shoulder. "Charmander are still incredibly powerful pokemon that will serve you well, Ash. Can I see it?"

He grinned. "I didn't get a charmander either, Mom. The one Professor Oak had was too wild and angry to be given to a starting trainer. So I got something even better."

She raised an eyebrow, eyes flicking to the pokeball in his hand. "So? Show me!"

He lobbed it, catching it and watched as his pokemon sprang into existence.

Ekans hissed once, looking around. He rattled only once before Delia got on her knees, holding out her hand. The pokemon brushed the tip of his snout over her fingers, rumbling happily.

"A poison type," she cooed, leaning to look over the entire pokemon. "And look - his scales are the darkest purple I've ever seen on one! His gold is bright, so he's healthy, and look at those fangs! He's definitely seen some action."

Ash grinned, kneeling beside her. He had long since gotten used to his mother's crazy knowledge about pokemon.

She stood back on her feet. "Does he have a nickname?"

He blinked. "Um…" Turning to face Ekans, he clicked his tongue to get his attention. He turned to him, head cocked.

"Maybe Toxic? Or Ivy? For poison ivy, of course. Or what about Sting?"

He shook his head on all of them.

"He's more dangerous than that," Delia added in. "His fangs are cleanly developed and are bright white. Ekans only get that through biting."

Frowning in thought, he ran ideas through his mind. One struck him. "Apep? He's the snake god who wants to swallow the sun. Although I hope you won't be that evil."

The rattling hiss was definitely laughter, but he nodded. Apep now had a name.

Delia stood up, shaking off her hand. "Come bring him to the table, then. I've still got some pancake batter and a jar or two of food for Apep there."

The snake hissed at her happily before starting to move, slithering over the ground.

He was _fast_. No legs or arms but he twisted around furniture and sliding over the ground in the blink of an eye.

Delia whistled. "He's got some speed on him. You should use that in battle, Ash."

He nodded. "I will."

They sat together, munching on the warm pancakes she flipped out every minute or so. Apep curled around Ash's chair, brilliant yellow eyes falling closed.

But soon they finished and Ash ran up to his room, grabbing his bag from where it was on his bed. He had made sure to pack everything he needed or could ever need.

Though he knew he wanted TMs - even though the ones he had planned for his bulbasaur were worthless now - he hadn't bought any before getting his first pokemon in order to prevent not being able to use it. So he had a reasonable amount of cash left, not enough for a TM, but enough to get him out a tight spot if he needed.

But he had potions and revives and antidotes. Plenty for Route 1 and enough to last him through Viridian Forest as well, and he had also packed enough food to get himself and three pokemon through.

He would be fine, and significantly better than if he had just traveled without letting his mother anywhere near his bag.

Apep hissed at him from the bottom of the stairs, head tilted. Slowly he tapped the step in front of him with his tail, eyes flicking over the height.

He started to climb, twisting his body. In a heartbeat, he was at the top.

"That was cool," Ash told him happily.

Apep gave a snake-like grin before pressed forward, slowly starting to climb up Ash's leg. He froze.

But in a second the snake was curled around his torso, head resting on his shoulder. Ash could feel his muscles, tight beneath his scales, flex over his waist, keeping the snake tight against his sides. The weight wasn't bad but he would definitely have to get used to it.

"That's fine," he said to Apep. "But you're going to have to do some training of your own that will involve you moving by yourself."

There was a sleepy yawn by his ear before the pokemon squeezed a little tighter. Ash sucked in a deep breath before trotting down the stairs, keeping both hands on the rails. He was not used to him yet.

Delia laughed as he tottered into the kitchen, and Apep hissed a laugh into his ear. "Yeah, yeah," he grumbled, holding the rather heavy bag in his hand.

"You have everything you need?" She asked, head tilted to one side.

"Yeah. There's nothing else I need to go out into the great big world of Kanto," he teased back, struggling to put his backpack on with Apep's heavy coils.

"That's good." She smiled at him. "Because Gary's waiting outside to battle you."

"What?" He yelped, jolting. Apep snapped his fangs in annoyance. "Why didn't you tell me?"

There was a smug grin on her face. "I just did. Better not keep him waiting."

"But I don't know his moves! Apep! Get down here!"

The pokemon blinked twice before Ash carefully peeled him off, setting him on the table. He pulled his pokedex off from where he had attached it to his belt and quickly pulled up Apep's chart, sliding over his moves.

 _Wrap. The pokemon wraps itself around its attacker, squeezing tighter to inflict damage while preventing the opposing pokemon from attacking. This move is physical._

"That's awesome," he whispered, eyes flicking over the page. He knew Leer already, it was one of the most basic moves.

 _Poison Sting_. _The pokemon launches hardened poison to the opposing pokemon. This move has a low chance of poisoning. This move is ranged._

He flicked to the next move, the egg move. The one that Apep wouldn't know as well.

 _Poison Fang. The pokemon attacks by biting the opposing pokemon and injecting venom. This move has a moderate chance of poisoning. This move is physical_.

"Okay okay okay," he muttered, glancing from the confused Apep to his equally confused mother. "If I- yeah- then-"

"Ash Ketchum!" She finally exploded, shocking the boy into alertness. "Just go out and battle him already!"

He straightened his shoulders. "Come on, Apep. Ready for your first battle?"

Apep hissed, happily straightening. His rattle flicked over the ground, producing a dry crackling sound, like dead leaves. He looked more excited than ever before.

Ash straightened. "Wait. I'm going to recall you. No reason to give Gary a chance to prepare."

He clicked the pokeball and watched Apep disappear.

Ash marched to the door, throwing open the door.

And 'lo and behold, Gary stood there, casually leaning against the porch post. He looked like he hadn't been waiting at all, tossing a pokeball up and down. Slowly, he looked over at Ash, like he hadn't even been expecting him. "Hello, Ashy boy."

Ash grinned. "You finally got your pokemon, Gary?"

The boy grinned back. "You bet I did. And Leaf even snagged your precious bulbasaur, so you're going to have a type disadvantage. "

"No, I'm not. The charmander was too wild to be a starting pokemon. I got something different."

Gary frowned. "Well, I'll still win. Let's battle!"

Delia's voice echoed from inside the house. "Not on my front porch, boys. Go to the road!"

"Yes, Mom." Ash pushed Gary out the road, where they both walked ten feet apart on the stone cobbles. They grinned at each other.

"Ready to lose?" Gary readied his pokeball.

"You wish." He grinned back, and then they both launched their pokeballs.

Gary's squirtle was average sized but its shell was heavily ridged, even from a distance. It pounded its fists together, obviously having been briefed on what was happening.

Apep dropped down on the ground, exploding out with a hiss. His purple form curled over the ground, tail flicking over the ground. The threatening rattle rang through the air.

Gary whistled. "An ekans, eh? Not bad. Neither of us have the advantage. But I'm still going to win!"

Ash grinned. "Oh, you wish."

He quickly ran through what his battle plan was. While he knew how bulbasaur fought, ekans were a new style. The pokedex entrance said they struck out, biting powerfully, but he knew they couldn't take a lot of hits. How did a snake fight?

Sneaky. Well, it was hard to be sneaky in an open battlefield, though he had an idea of how he could use that. In the time that he was figuring out what he wanted to do, Gary smirked and struck first.

"Squirtle, use Water Gun!"

There was a moment of hesitation before Squirtle opened its mouth, blue light flickering in the back of its throat. It shot out a thin stream of water, clear and shining in the sunlight. It raced through the air.

"Dodge it, Apep!" Ash hurriedly shouted.

Apep lunged to the side, but he hadn't been prepared enough. The water slapped against his tail, flinging his form backward just a few inches. He hissed furiously, coiling in on himself.

Gary smirked. "Water Gun! Keep it guessing!"

Apep only had one long range attack, and other than that he had to get close. Ash crossed his fingers. "Apep!" The snake focused on him. "Keep dodging the Water Guns, and try to get in a Poison Sting."

Apep hissed and shot out of the way of another Water Gun, only to have to dodge another that splashed where his head had been. He slunk around Squirtle, slithering in a circle, moving faster to avoid the Water Guns.

But then Squirtle paused to take a breath, and Apep reared back and spat something dark and purple. It snapped through the air and hit Squirtle's face.

It squeaked, shaking furiously. There were around ten thin needles, a shining purple, all made to inject a powerful poison. While none of them had actually stuck in Squirtle's skin, but maybe he was lucky? Ash watched with keen eyes and cursed when Squirtle didn't wince - he wasn't poisoned. And the move didn't look like it had fazed Squirtle too much.

"New strategy, Apep!" He called. "Get in close and use Wrap!"

Squirtle smirked and fired out two Water Guns, each aimed for Apep. But the snake just slithered under one and around the other, moving quickly toward Squirtle.

Gary narrowed his eyes. "Tackle while it's close!"

Ash cursed. "Apep! Jump!"

Apep froze before angling lower. Thumping his tail against the ground, he pushed himself up to just barely skim the head of the charging Squirtle.

"Wrap!" Ash shouted.

Apep's tail curled around Squirtle's shell, and in another second he had his body on it quickly lashing his tail and torso around Squirtle's shell and available skin. It shook itself furiously but Apep started to curl deeper. His muscles flexed and Squirtle grunted furiously, reaching up with stubby arms to punch and claw at the purple scales, but the power of Wrap was already weakening him.

Gary clenched his fists. "Roll on the ground! Get it off your back!"

Squirtle grimaced and threw itself to the side, squishing Apep under its weight. The snake grunted.

But he was wrapping tighter and tighter, scales twirling around Squirtle's shell. He wouldn't ever get tight enough to cut off breathing with the shell in the way, but it had definitely started hurting, and Squirtle was getting mad. It leapt to its feet and then jumped backward, slamming Apep into the ground.

He fell back, stunned. Squirtle tore his tail off and then jumped back.

"Water Gun!"

"Poison Fang!"

Apep twitched once before flipping back onto his stomach, hissing furiously. That had hurt, and bruises lined his back. Squirtle, still smug, opened his mouth and started to fire an enormous stream of water, larger than any before.

Apep couldn't dodge. It slammed into him right at the tail and threw him backward, but he reared up and flung himself at Squirtle, mouth open and gaping.

Squirtle couldn't dodge, either. Apep caught him right on the arm and bit down, sharp fangs piercing neatly past the blue skin. Squirtle grunted with pain as Apep unloaded waves of venom, stumbling a step back and opening its mouth.

"Get back!" Ash called, and Apep let go quickly, jerking back. He slithered away, eyeing Squirtle carefully.

But Squirtle was wincing heavily, the bite mark clutched in his other hand. He had been poisoned, and that meant that things were finally going Ash's way.

Gary wasn't so kind. He almost said Tackle but then his eyes widened as Squirtle straightened, eyes glaring a bright blue. He pounded his fists together and actually roared, the sound deep and gravely.

Ash stiffened. Torrent. Every squirtle starter had the ability to boost their water attacks when they had low health.

"Get out of there!" He yelped. Apep started to move, but he was more sluggish than normal, scales dark with bruises where the attacks had hit.

"Water Gun," Gary said with a smirk.

Apep hurtled toward the edge but Squirtle leaned back and fired a literal wave of water that he had no chance of dodging.

It slammed into him and Apep flopped to the ground, eyes snapping shut. He was unconscious, knocked cleanly out.

Squirtle stumbled once, wincing heavily. He was still poisoned.

Gary quickly pressed the button on his pokeball and recalled him, attaching it to his belt. "Oh, there you go, Ashy boy. I won our first battle!"

"Yeah yeah," he sulked, but there was still a grin on his face. "You know I'll win the second."

Gary scoffed playfully. "Ha! As if. Next battle, it'll still be your ekans versus Blastoise, and we'll see how well you do then!"

"We will," and with that, they shook hands and marched their separate ways. They had an odd relation, a love-hate to say the best. Each wanted to win, to be the superior trainer ever since they were very small, being the only two young males in the town. Sure, Leaf came in and butted heads with them, winning every scrabble they got into. But she often stayed with her family on the other side of town, and that cut their fights in half.

Strange to think that once crossing a town had seemed too long to go play with a friend. Now they were traveling an entire region just to fight one.

And Leaf had his bulbasaur. Oh, he was taking her down next time they met, and he couldn't help but feel a grin slip onto his face.

But Apep was still there, and the only healing center in Pallet Town was in Professor Oak's lab, and he kind of didn't want the man seeing how he lost his first battle, although no doubt Gary would be heading off there to heal up Squirtle.

So instead he rooted around in his back, pulling out one of his six revives. It was kind of a waste but he believed in Apep more than he believed in the bug and grass types of the forest. Breaking open the diamond package, he dropped the powder in Apep's mouth.

After only a few seconds, he came back to consciousness, shaking his head and peering around. Ash quickly found a regular potion and sprayed it on the bruises on his back, using only half the bottle. The attacks were mainly special, so there weren't as many wounds to heal.

Apep was sulking, and Ash didn't even try to fight when he slithered up his body and curled around his torso. "I'll carry you for a little bit," he said, poking Apep's snout. "But then we're going to start your training in the forest, mark my words."

The pokemon yawned and went back to resting his head near Ash's neck. His scales were smooth, made for sliding over grasses and dirt. They weren't cold but with every passing moment against his skin they were warming up, settling at a comfortable heat.

He trotted back over to his home, slipping through the door. Delia perked up, finishing putting away the pancake plates. "How did it go?"

Ash sighed. "I lost. But not by much! I'll be able to cream him next time!"

She laughed ruffling up his hair and knocking his hat off. He grumbled but picked it up, jamming it back on his head. It had been over a hundred and some change cereal packages in order to win the League pokeball hat and he wasn't losing it for absolutely anything.

"You ready to go, Ash?"

He nodded, and she sucked in a deep, deep breath. "Well, you're calling me at every town you get to. Every one! I don't want you to think that you can let a town go by without-"

"I won't, Mom. I promise."

She chuckled and hugged him, mindful of Apep. "You'll check your pokedex for rare pokemon coming through, I know you can check the news on it. I know you won't let Apep be hurt for no reason so you have all of your potions, right? Make sure you don't just capture a pokemon just for capturing it. And make sure they all have food and so do you, you aren't going hungry just because you don't want to eat berries-"

"I promise, Mom! I promise."

"That's my boy." She stepped back, flicking her gaze over every part of his body. His shoes were new and just bought, with thick soles for hiking over Kanto. His clothes were loose and light, made for the mild spring weather they were having. His bag practically bulged and his pokeballs and pokedex glinted from his waist.

"Then off you go, and make me proud."

He laughed and then turned to the door, pushing it open. Here he was, off to a brand new adventure across the region.

Walking through Pallet Town, he pointed things out to Apep. The snake lazily looked around, the hot sun beating down on his scales. He was practically falling asleep no matter how jerky Ash's walk was.

And Ash was planning.

He had a poison type. They had only two weakness, ground types and psychic. Their poison moves didn't work on steel types, but that was fine. They were strong against grass and fairy types, which were really powerful. But the best part was that they resisted bug, fighting, grass, poison and fairy type moves!

But he needed to teach Apep many more moves for him to be able to do well. Ekans couldn't learn any moves that would be super effective against ground types but from what his mother had told him, Apep would do well to learn Bite, a dark type move that would definitely hurt psychic types. But he needed some sort of either flying, grass, ice, or water type pokemon to fight against ground types.

He hoped. The only flying type pokemon around were pidgey and spearow, and there weren't that many grass or water, and ice types were practically impossible to find in Kanto.

But Apep had very limited moves, ones that would hurt him more than help. He had to get very close to hurt the opposing pokemon, and that could be dangerous for him. Ekans didn't have very high health, and it was devilishly hard to increase them. The easiest way was through evolution and healing after battles, but that would take a long, long time. So what he had to do was get Apep ranged attacks and ways to protect himself.

Shuffling his arm around Apep's coils, he grabbed his pokedex and pulled up his chart. What moves could he learn?

His eyes immediately lit up upon seeing two moves. Acid and Acid Spray.

They were two very similar poison type moves, so Apep's type would boost their damage. Acid was the simpler version, while Acid Spray was more advanced.

 _Acid. The pokemon launches a thin stream of acid toward the opposing pokemon. This move erodes the opposing pokemon to lower defense. This move is ranged._

 _Acid Spray. The pokemon launches a wave of acid toward the opposing pokemon. This move erodes the opposing pokemon to lower defense greatly. This move has a moderate chance of poisoning. This move is ranged._

Both good, ranged attacks that would be devilishly useful to keep Apep away from other pokemon while still letting him attack. They weren't the most basic moves, that was true, and Ash didn't have the foggiest idea about how to help increase Apep's toxicity in order to be able to use those two moves. But they were powerful and found definitely be able to keep him from a bit of a distance while fighting.

But he also needed to learn Bite to defend himself from psychic pokemon, one of his weaknesses.

And he only had around half a day on Route 1 and two weeks before he was out of Viridian Forest and in Cerulean City.

And Pewter City's gym used rock type pokemon. While that wasn't a problem for the most part, there were many rumors that the leader, Brock, used an onix and a geodude, which were both rock and ground, which resisted poison moves.

But the bug type pokemon of the forest were weak to poison moves, which would make it easier to train.

Oh, this was so difficult!

Apep rattled his tail against his back, bringing his head up to poke Ash in the side of his face. He relaxed and stroked over his head scales, and Apep rumbled happily under his touch.

"I don't quite know what move to teach you, bud," He said, bring the pokedex closer to his face. Apep perked up. "There's a lot that would make you very powerful but I think what we need to do is teach you is a move that would be able to defeat rock and ground types, okay? So when we get to Viridian, we'll call up Professor Oak and see what he thinks."

He could have talked to the man right now, but he wanted to see how Apep trained just regularly before throwing a new move int he mix. Apep hissed happily, and Ash grinned.

Ash clicked his pokedex close and slipped it back onto his belt. "We'll start training your other moves when we stop for the day, okay?"

And then he was on the very edge of Route 1, staring at the looming trees. It was a wide dirt path that didn't go very far before reaching Viridian City, home of Giovanni's gym. The man was an absolute monster, and Ash didn't want to think about even going to his front door with one untrained pokemon.

Once Professor Oak told him what moves to do and Apep learned that, he'd work on teaching him another effective move. His best shot were Bite or Mud Bomb. They were the only two attacks that Apep could learn without TMs that weren't poison types. Bite would be taught first, and then Mud Bomb, just so that they could have some diversity on his moves. His only other attack that wasn't poison was Wrap, and Ash seriously doubted that a tiny ekans could do that to an onix.

He bet that the two moves would take every other moment of training in the Viridian Forest. And he also needed another pokemon, one that could help him on his journey. But there were barely any that appealed to him, and few would help him in the battle other than flying types, as ground type moves couldn't hit them.

But rock types were twice as effective.

Apep roused as he slowly unwound the pokemon off of him, setting the not light snake on the ground. He rattled his tail once, head tilted to the side.

"You'll be traveling beside me," he said. "This should work on your endurance and speed. Stop me if you're getting too tired, but you are going to be the strongest ekans ever before you even think of evolving."

Apep shot straight up, nodding quickly. Wild pokemon were filled with the desire to become strong, as they needed to be to be able to survive in the wild. Starter pokemon often didn't have that instinct, as they were bred and raised in nurseries. But Apep didn't have that - he started out in the wild, living off anything he could. He wanted to be strong, and by Arceus, Ash would make him.

Ash slowly started to walk along Route 1, Apep slithering next to him. Every so now and then, Apep would stop and simply rest in the middle of the path. Ash had immediately stopped on the first one and turned to face him, but he had flicked his tail in a 'go hither' motion.

A few moments later, Apep sped forward with ferocious speed. He did it over and over again, seemingly to not get tired.

Ash almost stopped him before grinning softly. The little pokemon had no idea they still had around four hours left of travel before they would arrive at Viridian City.

He stopped only once, eyes catching a glimmer of blue berries. Diving toward them, he pulled his backpack off and grabbed a large sack, currently empty. Apep curled up next to him, head tilted but eyes hungry.

Tossing him an oran berry, he got to work. Of course, he had brought food, but there was no way to carry a month's worth of food for some of the longer routes. So he brought basic and also collected berries whenever possible, as they were edible to every living pokemon and human. It didn't take much to fill up, and mashing them together in a paste and letting it harden overnight created perfect bars for munching on over a long day. Soon he had plucked all but five berries, leaving the rest for wild pokemon. The bag wasn't even a quarter full but Ash still hitched it on the back of his bag to prevent from squishing them.

Apep slithered forward and stole another berry from the bush.

And then they were walking again, and Apep had long since stopped his little sprints. He was nearly lagging behind, not even focusing on lifting his head above the ground. If he could have, Ash bet his tongue would be out and panting.

But the snake kept going, kept traveling next to Ash. He kept a close eye on him, not willing to have his pokemon pass out in the middle of a route. That was far too dangerous.

Finally, Apep stumbled one last time and Ash stopped. The pokemon dropped instantly, breath escaping a muffled hiss. He was still trying to pretend he was fine.

"Come over here, you great lump," he said, offering an oran berry. That would heal his pokemon from some of his exhaustion, enough to last him through the hour and a half they had left until they got to Viridian City.

Apep snatched it up, eating it faster than anything else. Ash carefully picked up the pokemon, guessing him to be about twenty five pounds, maybe thirty. Apep willing latched onto his torso, tail curling around his waist and head on his shoulder.

"But eventually you're going back in your pokeball, you got me?" He threatened, though by the skeptical look Apep shot him, the pokemon didn't believe him at all.

And it was true. He needed to train himself to travel long distances, and the combined weight of his backpack - which he already trained him by running laps around Professor Oak's lab with it on - and Apep would get him strong in no time.

So they started walking again, and Ash started to talk to Apep. Meaningless stuff at first, just empty babble about what he knew about pokemon. But then it dissolved into his plans for the adventure and the pokemon he wanted to capture.

There weren't many. Every kid wanted a dragonite and he was no different, but there were more he was interested in. Ice types were fascinating and so were fire types, the latter much more common. Dragon types were known for their immense strength, and it was easy to see that through their moves. But with the first addition to his team, poison was far more interesting.

He had the wish list every starting trainer had - eevee, dratini, and scyther. Other than that, he quite desperately wanted a growlithe, as the puppy pokemon were known for being agile, powerful, and very loyal.

Apep listened to it all, making soft, trilling laughs when he admitted more private things about how he used to stay up all night trying to catch a pidgey with a broken pokeball he had stolen from his mom.

But finally, just as the sun began to sink below the horizon of trees, Ash caught sight of Viridian City at the end of the route. Apep perked up as Ash began to trot the rest of the way, stumbling through the front gates.

The town was quiet at night, but people still buzzed and hummed as they walked around, chatting happily. Apep hissed happily, twitching his rattle.

But even as they started to move, a rather tired looking Officer Jenny appeared in front of them. Ash jolted, Apep hissing angrily in his ear.

"Hold on, you. Do you-" she stifled a yawn "-have any reason why this ekans isn't in its pokeball?"

"Um, yes. I was training with him but he got tired and I still wanted to talk to him about our plans." He babbled lightly, a blush working its way up his neck.

"May I see its pokeball?"

Ash grabbed the one pokeball on the left side of his belt, lifting into the air. With his other hand, he grabbed his pokedex. "And here's my identification."

She peered at it for a second, narrowing her eyes. And then she leaned back and stretched, blue hair curling around her shoulder. "All right. You're free to go. I was just checking."

Ash started to walk away, Apep hissing furiously and rattling his tail warningly at her back. He hid a snicker.

But the next second, Ash sped toward the Pokemon Center, panting harshly as Apep's weight finally started to hit him. But he pushed open the doors emboldened with the pokeball symbol, walking quickly into the room.

Nurse Joy, pink locks bouncing, looked up at him and smiled. Her lips quirked at Apep sleepily yawning on his shoulder, but Ash trotted up toward her and she greeted him warmly. "Hello! Welcome to the Pokemon Center. How may I help?"

"Do you think you could heal my pokemon? He's not hurt - I think - but he's pretty tired."

She nodded. "Certainly. But you may want to recall him first."

Ash blushed but pulled off the pokeball, holding it up to let Apep see. The snake rattled his tail once before Ash pressed the button, turning him into red mist.

He snapped up straight, Apep's weight disappearing off of him. A breath hissed from between his clenched teeth.

Nurse Joy laughed and extended her hand, and he offered his pokeball. She took it, holding it up to a scanner on some machine next to her counter. There was a beep and then she looked at the results, licking her lips.

"I should have your ekans out in only ten minutes, Ash. And yes, before you ask, the scanner shows ownership, so no, I didn't read your mind."

She said that with dull tones of someone who had to say it many times over again. He blushed again. "Thanks!"

He wandered off, quickly rushing toward the Pokemon Mart in the back of the center. It was rather small, mainly filled with every type of medicine known to mankind. But there was also a short aisle that was filled with circular disks.

Ash's eyes lit up and he practically ran toward them, very consciously aware of the money in his bag. He didn't have much, but was it enough to even get one?

It wasn't.

Most TMs were the same amount of money, though the ones like Hyper Beam and most dragon type moves were more expensive. Of course, reusable ones were even more money, but the cheapest one-use ones were well beyond his price range. He would have to battle every trainer in this Pokemon Center to be able to afford one reusable one that would let him stand a chance against Brock's pokemon.

His eyes narrowed.

But no, he needed more pokemon to be able to do that. And he also needed a powerful pokemon that would be able to let him survive even just the geodude.

Oh, why couldn't he find a perfect pokemon waiting for him on the next route!

Bug types wouldn't hold a candle to the rock types superior defense, and ground types were no different. So if he only found a rare pokemon that wasn't normally found in the Viridian Forest, then he would be fine.

His breath quickened in his chest. Oh, he was never going to make it.

He touched the Earthquake TM, one he knew that Apep could learn. It would even be super effective against rock types and wouldn't make Apep have to get close to the other pokemon.

But it was too expensive, and he dropped his hand. By the time he got to Pewter City, he would have enough money to buy a TM, and then he would be able to take over Brock's team of pokemon.

Confidence boosted, if only slightly, he turned to stare over the room of trainers. There were only a few, the rest either having left or gone up to their rooms. Maybe six, including one bright-eyed boy that couldn't have been any old ten. Probably had gotten his starter in this town and was coming to the Pokemon Center after a day of battling, preparing to set out his journey. He probably only had his starter.

And then Nurse Joy's voice echoed across the room. "Ash Ketchum, please take your pokemon!"

He trotted dutifully over to her, smiling wide. She handed over Apep's pokeball, smiling back. "Take good care of him, Ash. He seemed feisty even through the pokeball. And are you aware that he had bruises along his back?"

His brows furrowed before he remembered. "Ah! Yes. We had a battle in the morning, but I thought I healed them with a potion."

She pursed her lips. "Often, superficial wounds disappear while she hurting the pokemon. Make sure to use a little more potion than you think you need just to be safe, as you don't want your pokemon to be hurt during training or another battle."

He nodded. "Thanks for that, Nurse Joy!"

She smiled and he left, holding the ball tight in his hand. It wasn't that late, but it was too late for anyone to start traveling anywhere.

Ash just about ran toward the other trainer, a wide grin on his face. The boy looked up at him.

"Hey! Do you want to battle?"

* * *

Ash grinned, pocketing the rest of the money he had won from the kid. He had a bellsprout, and Apep was made to take out the slow leaf pokemon. The kid had a pretty powerful Vine Whip that had hit Apep cleanly in the head and another by the tail, but by that time Apep had landed several Poison Stings and managed to get a Poison Fang in its leaves, and the pokemon was knocked out.

It hadn't been much money - they were both just starting their journey, after all - but it was enough to get him hopeful. He had heard many stories about the endless bug trainers of Viridian Forest, gathered there by the also endless bugs of the forest.

He had no idea why they all stayed there, not growing much stronger and being defeated by trainers that passed through. But he didn't judge them, he wasn't that type to do that. Maybe he'd ask why they did what they did when he came across one.

But he also remembered what pokemon he had been planning on getting, and how he had spent nearly three day worrying over the forest.

Bug types had the type advantage over bulbasaurs, even though bulbasaur had a partial poison type. Their moves still injured them if they managed to break past their skin, especially since bulbasaur didn't learn any poison type moves early. So he would have been getting creamed every time he tried to walk down the path.

But he had Apep, and if he managed to hide his pokemon and look suitably innocent enough, he would be challenged by every bug trainer from here to Pewter City, and there wasn't any way that he would be losing except to very expert trainers, or if Apep was too tired.

And he had oran berries for that. This was going to be _brilliant_.

Apep looked up at him, blinking golden eyes once. There had been several bruises on his body but Ash had already taken him in to Nurse Joy, who had quickly fixed him up with one raised eyebrow and a low chuckle.

He had blushed furiously and scampered off.

But now he had more money, and money was what he desperately needed.

Yes, Apep was powerful. But he didn't have that many moves that he could just learn. His egg move was useful and would compliment his fangs nicely, but other than Bite and Mud Bomb, it was only poison type moves. He didn't have a lot of range to spread and grow as an ekans.

So he needed TMs, but that had already been decided.

But he also needed new pokemon, and new pokemon needed food and training supplies, so he still needed money. At least Professor Oak had given him five more pokeballs. He wasn't planning on catching more than six, but plans always changed - but eight at the maximum. He didn't want to catch one and then never seen it again, letting it sink into Professor Oak's ranch like many of the other pokemon he had seen. There were hundreds of pidgeys and rattatas that Oak had had to revoke ownership of after getting the trainer's permission and release them back into the wild because their trainer hadn't said a word about them in years and they were too hard to take care of. That led to Route 1 being full of pidgey and rattata, and guess beginning trainers caught on their first trip out? A vicious cycle that wasn't able to be beat by Professor Oak alone. When he caught a pokemon, he wasn't going to just give it up to the lab.

Ash didn't want to be like that. If he was going to be capturing pokemon, it was going to be because the pokemon would be part of his team, no matter its strength or evolution. It was his family.

His little mind boost session over, he shuffled his backpack into a more comfortable position and looked down at Apep, who stared unblinkingly up at him. "All right, you lazy snake. Come on up."

Apep gave a happy hiss punctuated by a rattle and slithered up Ash's leg, twining around him once again. Ash grinned. By the time he got to Pewter City in around two weeks, he was going to be more fit than Gary and Leaf put _together_. Well. Maybe not Leaf. But Gary definitely.

Apep may have been fast and quick and powerful, but he wasn't light.

He had gotten a room key for room 14, first floor of three. But it was only eight o'clock, and there was still something he needed to do. Shuffling over to the back of the Pokemon Center, he dodged one of the last trainers heading up to their room and sat down at a phone booth. He held his pokedex up to the scanner, waiting for it to beep brightly. A second later, it lit up with the free setting trainers were allowed to use. Quickly dialing in his mother's number, he sat back and waited.

It only rang twice before the screen popped up, showing his mom.

Delia smiled warmly at him, bright white teeth shining. "Hello, Ash! Did you make it to Viridian City?"

He nodded, grinning back at her. His mom was a relaxing presence no matter where he was, all warm eyes and soft smiles.

Although he wouldn't mind being closer to her to have some of her delicious cooking. He would never mind that.

"How are you doing? Caught any new pokemon so far?" She laughed loudly as Apep leaned forward, head tilted in confusion. He poked his snout at the screen only for it to stop him before he could reach Delia, and he hissed uncertaintly.

Ash stroked his neck, feeling a soft rumble under his fingers. "It's fine, bud," he murmured, before speaking louder to his mother. "No, nothing yet. I'm trying to figure out a strategy for Brock's pokemon but I haven't come up with anything yet! There's no good pokemon unless I can find a pond or a grass type clan, and you know those aren't very common around Viridian Forest."

She shrugged. "It's fine, Ash. I know you'll find some pokemon. It doesn't matter whether you're on a disadvantage or not, because if-"

"-if I train my pokemon strong enough, that's all that matters," he finished. "Thanks, Mom."

But she snapped her hand up to stop him from disconnecting. "Oh, not yet, Ashy. I'm not going to be talking to you for two weeks, and I've got some things you have to do."

Ash barely bit back a groan. "Of course."

"Have you checked the news yet?"

He gaped at her. "Mom! It's been only one day!" He paused. "Actually, it hasn't even been that! Nothing could have happened in the incredibly short half day since I left Pallet Town, surely you know that…"

But her glare stopped him short. With a heaving sigh, he pulled out his pokedex and flicked it open. "Fine, fine."

"That's my boy."

He flicked through the tabs, eyes narrowed. Finally he struck gold on _Pokemon News_ , clicking it quickly.

At first, nothing popped up. He rose up in a mocking smile, prepared to tease his mother when something pinged. His eyes shot back down to see a new announcement, released only twenty minutes prior.

Delia smirked at him.

Rolling his eyes, he pressed the announcement and watched as a small paragraph blinked into existence.

 _Trainers around Cerulean City, keep your eyes to the skies! A freak storm in Johto has pushed a flock of noctowl flying over the city, and they should be there for several more days while they regain their bearings. After that, they fly back to their homeland, so if you want one, go quickly! Noctowl are normal and flying type, and are a wonderful bonus to any team! Head there quick!_

"See, Mom? It doesn't affect me. I'm not even in Pewter yet!"

She just raised an eyebrow, head tilting. "But what could happen tomorrow? 'Large amounts of oddish in Viridian Forest, but only if you take this special path?'"

"Yeah, yeah. I swear I'll check it every day. I don't want to miss some super effective pokemon that come by me. I really need another pokemon to defeat Brock's pokemon, because Apep just won't be able to do it alone. And even if he can, I don't want to put him through that."

There was a smile on her face. "Good thinking, Ash. Yes, I would say that it would help you tremendously to have another pokemon to train. But there's something else, Ash."

Her smile slipped into a frown, eyes flashing. "Don't you _dare_ only choose a pokemon on whether it'll be helpful to you in the next gym. If you find a baby electric type who battles you with the strength and ferocity of a gyarados, you capture that pokemon and train it in every move that will take down Brock's team. You don't turn it down just because it won't help you right now. Don't you _dare_."

He gulped. "I- I promise, Mom. I wouldn't do that. Anyway, an electric type would be amazingly helpful in the Cerulean Gym. I'd be happy to capture one."

Her face cleared up like the sky after a storm. "Perfect. I can't wait to meet your new member on your team. I would suggest doing more research on Apep there, though. Poison types have a lot of strengths, and it would be nice to plan out what gyms you might want to take a shortcut to."

Ash grinned. "Thanks, Mom. I'll call you the day I get to Pewter."

"I know you will. Have fun, Ashy!"

And then the connection clicked off.

He stayed staring at the black screen, a smile still glimmering on his face. It was a nice chat, no matter how he had gotten scolded. She was his mother, and nothing in this world would make him not adore conversations with her.

She had an honest point, though. He had been turning down every pokemon in the forest so far, just because they wouldn't be super effective…

As a type. He hadn't even though about just moves! What about finding a pokemon that could use super effective moves? That would be perfect!

His best bet would be calling up Professor Oak and then seeing what he thought, both about good moves in pokemon and more information about Apep. Perfect! The man knew everything both inside and out about Kanto pokemon, so he'd for sure know something that Ash could catch.

He pressed the screen again, flicking to trainer contacts. There was a League number, a list of pokemon researchers, and an emergency contact with Professor Oak's name. Apparently he wasn't the only trainer to call Oak about his pokemon. The screen hummed once before starting to ring.

This time, it rang out considerably longer, long enough for Ash to switch his attention to scratching Apep's neck. The pokemon rumbled happily, stretching his head up to let Ash at it easier. His scales were softer on his stomach and neck, less defensive. But also itchier, and Ash happily scratched him to his heart's content.

The screen hummed again before blinking on, showing the lab. And Professor Oak's hair. The bright white shock of hair bounced as Professor Oak perked up, presumably smiling into his screen.

"Hello, Ash! What do you need?" The man was still bright and warm in his personality, bouncing around from topic to topic, even through a screen. Ash would miss him a ton on his journey, even though he'd probably call him frequently for more information on his pokemon and things.

"Can you turn around, Professor?" He asked with a smile.

Oak stiffened before the screen flickered black, coming back to with Oak facing him. "Ah! Wrong camera. No matter. Why are you calling me? Did you catch a pokemon?"

Ash shook his head. "Not quite. I was wondering whether you could help me out a bit."

He nodded, sitting down in a chair. "What do you need?"

"Are there any super effective moves that Apep could learn for Pewter City? The only one I can think of is Mud Bomb, and that doesn't do that much damage. I don't want him to be out there without any way to defend himself."

"Apep?"

The pokemon perked up at his name, tilting his head to the side. He had learned not to hit the screen but he still seemed very confused.

Professor Oak nodded his head. "Ah. Give me a moment." He stared off into space, eyes flickering rapidly. He was always interesting to watch when he started to think about pokemon - he knew everything about them, but he often had to search deep to find specific details. Ash had amused himself by finding rare Kanto pokemon in books and asking about hidden abilities and watching the professor sink into his trance.

But all too soon Oak snapped back to attention, smile on his face. "Tutor moves. Ekans can learn several moves that would be very useful, but I would suggest either Iron Tail, Giga Drain, or Seed Bomb. Do you know why they're put under tutoring moves despite the fact that trainers are able to teach them the moves?"

Ash shook his head, but still guessed. "They don't master the moves until a tutor teaches them?"

Oak leveled him a look. "Well, that would hardly make sense. No, it's because that these are some of the most difficult moves the pokemon can learn. Tutors have to use a combination of TMs and training to teach the pokemon in under two days, which is useful for quick effective moves for a gym battle. You will be able to teach Apep one of the moves, but it will take a significant amount of time and patience. I would recommend Iron Tail, however. While I know that the grass type moves will be very useful in the next gym as well, mastering another element is very difficult, and Iron Tail is very easy to master without fully understanding and mastering the steel type. Just have Apep constantly hit heavy rocks and boulders with his tail until it starts to harden, and you should teach it to him in maybe a week or longer if you bring plenty of potions."

Ash blinked. "I promised to teach him Acid…"

Oak raised an eyebrow. "But now you're going to teach him a super effective move that will help him survive in the Pewter Gym, I hope?"

He sighed. "Yes, Professor. But I also have another question - what pokemon has some more super effective moves around here? I'd like a new member for my team."

Oak frowned. "Well, there's-"

The power cut off.

Ash blinked. "Professor?"

He rose to his feet, staring around the suddenly dark Pokemon Center. The lights had all switched off, each one dead and dull. The soft hum from machines were also off, and even the cheerful lit-up pokeball symbol on the front door was grey.

Nurse Joy stood up as well, eyes dark and calculated. "Hello? Is there anyone still down here?"

"Just me, Nurse Joy," he called back. "Ash Ketchum."

She nodded, carefully walking around her counter. "This shouldn't last more than a few seconds - we have our own pikachu generators. Please stay calm."

And in the next instant, lights flickered back on, noticeably not all of them. The brilliant overhead lights were as bright as ever, but the small, basically useless reading lights on couches and tables were off. He guessed it was to conserve power.

"There we go," she said happily, walking over toward the phone screens. "I'll just call up the town hall and see whether there's been an issue with the power supply-"

The overhead glass ceiling shattered.

Ash watched it in slow motion, millions of glass shards plummeted toward the ground, falling as if rain. It was when one bounced off of Apep's tail that he reacted, throwing the snake underneath the desk and crawling in under him. The glass shattered everywhere, shards recocaying off of everything. A bright pain surfaced somewhere in his lower back, and he winced.

But there wasn't time to think about that, because something was coming through the roof.

It was round, grey, and had a rather happy face carved onto one side. He recognized it quickly. A koffing, one much larger than the average. It hovered in midair, most likely having been the one to break down the glass ceiling.

"Koffing, smokescreen!" A male voice barked, and the pokemon obeyed, shaking itself rapidly. Black smoke, thick and roiling, burst from its body. It filled the air, covering everything in sight. There was a thump not far in front of Ash of something landing on the ground, the sound of broken glass scratching against the ground.

Apep suddenly sharpened, his tail rattling ever so lightly. Ash lunged backward and held it still, breath short in his throat. They were under attack.

The Pokemon Center was under attack, and he had one pokemon. Apep might be able to take down the koffing, but it was also his starter and the koffing looked absolutely enormous and probably well trained.

But there was a growl from beside him, and he looked over to see Nurse Joy baring her teeth and pulling herself from under the desk, where she had also been. "You think you can just attack my Pokemon Center and get away with it?" She bellowed into the smoke.

There was a pause, before an obviously female voice trickled back through, coated with smugness. "Well, yes, obviously. Now, if you just surrender your pokemon and every pokemon in this center, we might let you go unharmed."

Nurse Joy scoffed. "You have three pokemon and don't sound over twenty. I, on the other hand, have been trained to defend this place, and I even have another trainer!" She turned to him, eyes unbelievably sharp. "Ash. You have an ekans?"

He nodded, eyes wide.

"Well, then you can't be poisoned. If you can take out one of their pokemon, I'll do the rest. I think I can take the koffing and the meowth, you get the other."

And then she stood fully up, the smoke beginning the fade around her. "Chansey! To me!"

The egg pokemon darted over to stand next to her, looking fiercely powerful in that moment. He had always thought that they were just nurses, caretakers for injured pokemon. This Nurse Joy was anything but in this moment.

And finally, the smoke cleared fully.

There were two - no, three pokemon. The koffing floated above, a man with purple hand standing behind it with a confident expression. A meowth stood next to the man, hissing with claws raised. An ekans slithered below. Ash stiffened. Ekans versus ekans?

He could do this. His Apep was absolutely furious in battle, despite what Gary had thought. He had taken the bulbasaur in record time. All he had to do was use his ekans speed, which his mother had said was uncommon. And this ekans was a lighter purple, and its yellow was almost dark. Close to evolving, which meant it would always be slightly off balance as it tried to evolve but couldn't muster the power yet.

There was a woman behind the ekans, holding nearly three feet of brilliant red hair that curled behind her in an arc. It was quite impressive, but her face was horribly smug and motivated. Her eyes widened on seeing Apep, but they narrowed quickly.

The pair of attackers opened their mouths, striking a pose. They looked like they were about to sing.

Nurse Joy didn't give them the chance. "Chansey! Pound!"

The pokemon lunged forward, heading toward the koffing. The man yelped and barked out a command.

The woman reacted faster. "Ekans! Wipe this twerp out and use Bite!"

Ash bit his lip. The one damaging move that Apep had needed to learn. Maybe his pokemon could learn from it.

Apep rattled his tail furiously, and Ash snapped back to attention. He had to focus.

"Use Leer, and then get out of there!"

The charging ekans slithered with its mouth wide open, black energy coiling on the edge of its fangs. Apep merely coiled in on himself, baring his fangs and narrowing his eyes. The ekans flinched, shock working down on its scales and loosening its muscles, making it easier to injure.

And then Apep turned around and fled up the side of the desk.

He ended up on top as the other ekans, screeched to a stop to avoid slamming its head on the desk. Glass crunched beneath its scales as it peered up at Apep, who hissed at him.

The woman tsked. "Acid, Ekans! Keep it going hard!"

Ash frowned. Poison types couldn't be poisoned. He knew that it wouldn't do much in damage, so what was the crazy lady's strategy? "Apep, don't let it hit you. Launch Poison Sting!"

Ekans reared back and spat something brilliant orange and red toward Apep. It sizzled in the air, chock full of damaging venom.

It splattered against the desk not a moment too soon, hissing and bubbling against the wood. Apep had shot backward but now he attacked, slithering forward to fire Poison Stings over the edge of the desk.

Ekans hissed. Apep didn't stop.

Not all of them hit, but he just kept firing more and more of them. Again and again and again, Ekans flinching more and more with each hit. It kept launching Acids at the woman's demands, most of them splattering on the desk. But one connected, and Apep nearly flinched, it hurt him so badly. The woman's ekans was _strong_ , but Apep kept going. Poison Stings rained down on the poison type.

At least until Ekans growled with fury and leaped upon the desk.

Acid sizzled against its scales, but it lunged forward, cheered on by shrieks of "Bite it!" Its mouth glowed darkly, shadows flickering across its fangs.

Apep did the snake equivalent of a yelp and tried to jump off the desk. Ekans slammed its fangs into his tail.

He shrieked in pain, furiously thrashing around. Ekans bit down harder, a scale cracking under its fangs.

"Wrap! Wrap around it!" Ash bellowed, fists clenched. The woman cackled happily, shouting encouragement to her pokemon.

Apep, fueled by rage and pain, flung himself forward and threw his head onto Ekans' back. It flinched, and Apep furiously wrapped himself around the other snake. It worked - partially. Ekans' scales were more ridged, ready for evolution, and Apep was able to lodge himself in and start squeezing.

Ekans' head was ripped off of Apep's tail, spitting angrily. But its hisses soon turned to fear as Apep started the move that had nearly won him the battle against Gary's squirtle. His muscles bulged as he slowly tightened around Ekans.

Ash bit his lip. The move was perfect for ending the battle, but Ekans was too powerful. It had taken nearly ten Poison Stings and now this, and it was still fighting back. Ape didn't have much longer until he couldn't squeeze any longer, and then Ekans would be able to fight back.

"Poison Fang! Bite its tail!" He shouted, and Apep reacted. He lifted his head and sank purple stained fangs through the scales on Ekans' tail.

The pokemon roared, even though Apep hadn't perfected the move. It thrashed again.

"Don't use venom!" Ash barked. "Just keep biting!"

Apep reared back and struck again, even while performing Wrap. Ekans hissed. Again.

And finally, finally, Ekans went limp.

Apep nearly collapsed on the ground, flopping down and letting Ekans slip out of his hold. He was panting harshly, rattle twitching lightly.

Ash immediately recalled him. The woman raged in a fury, holding out her pokeball. "You fucking twerp!" She roared. "Let's see how well you can do once I do something else." She snapped her fingers, eyes narrowed. "Meowth!"

Nothing happened.

Her eyes widened, and she looked around, fear trickling onto her face.

Nurse Joy walked onto the scene, holding a struggling meowth in one hand. It hissed furiously, and to Ash's surprise, didn't just hiss.

"Let me go, lady! I'm a powerful pokemon dat will trash your whole team - ow, not the ears - if you don't let me go! Me-owth!"

There was a pokeball in her other had, and Ash saw the man cowering with chansey standing over him. The pokemon pounded her fists together, snarling.

The woman squeaked, looking between her ekans and the meowth and the man. Her feet twitched, arms flexing. She tensed her shoulders.

And then her decision was made for her as the front doors blasted open, Officer Jenny speeding in on her motorcycle. Her eyes widened but then she was leaping off her bike, grabbing at the handcuffs on her waist. The man instantly shot his hands into the air.

"Ash," Nurse Joy said.

He turned to her, pale with eyes wide. "Yes?"

"Please go to your room. I will take care of your ekans and will talk to you in the morning."

Ash nodded slowly, feeling both jittery and sluggish. "Here's his pokeball."

He slowly handed it over, his palms sweaty. Wiping them on his pants, he turned slowly on his heel and walked toward the back of the Pokemon Center, where a door stood that led to the rooms.

"Oh? Ash, please wait a moment."

He turned around to see Nurse Joy approaching, the squalling meowth in Officer Jenny's grasp. She circled him, eyes narrowed.

"You've got a bit of glass in your back, dear. Please hold still."

And then there was a soft pain from nothing. "Not too bad. Should finish healing in the morning. Off you go."

He turned back around again.

Glass shards crunched under his shoes. It was grating and loud and strange in his almost daze.

He had taken down an adult's pokemon. An adult ekans, to be precise. His Apep had taken it down.

After only one day of training.

Sure, now that he was looking back, the pair of them hadn't seemed that strong. He didn't remember completely, but Nurse Joy had taken down the koffing with barely any moves from her chansey. The ekans had only used a couple of overpowered moves, moves that Ash was planning to teach to his starter. It didn't use Gunk Shot or Mud Bomb, which were only slightly more difficult moves to learn and would have seriously hurt Apep.

But still.

An adult's pokemon.

As if in a daze, Ash wandered over to the room 14 and withdrew his key from his bag. Clicking the door open, he wandered inside. He didn't notice anything, eyes sluggishly moving toward the inviting bed.

He reasoned he was probably in shock.

But he peeled off his clothes, shutting his door first. His bag was set off to the side, pajamas quickly thrown on. His dirty clothes were dumped down a laundry chute, where they would be returned to him in either the morning or midday.

But then he shuffled toward the bathroom, brushing his teeth quickly. The cold water he splashed on his face helped slightly, but there was still clouds hovering over his eyes. It was hard to think clearly.

But the bed called to him, and before long, he was asleep on top of the covers.

The next morning, he changed at the speed of light and ran out of his room, slinging his backpack over his shoulders. There was a crowd of rather confused trainers, maybe ten of them. Not many, but they all had wide open eyes and gaping mouths. As he finished pushing his way back to the common area in the Pokemon Center, he saw why.

In the day, the break in the ceiling looked much more impressive. There was a gaping hole smashed directly in the middle, much larger than the koffing had been. It was jagged and enormous, but Ash could see the faint blue glimmer of psychic powers protecting it from breaking more or letting rain in. And indeed, there was a kadabra sitting in the corner, spoon pulsing faintly.

The glass shards had all been cleaned up, though the desk Apep had fought on was irrevocably damaged. Splashes of acid from Acid Spray were still there, protected by the kadabra.

Apep.

He looked around the room quickly, searching for Nurse Joy. Finally, he caught her pink hair bouncing as she consoled a rather panicked trainer. He trotted closer, staying back while she talked soothingly to the boy.

And then she finished, and he practically ran over to her.

"Nurse Joy?" He asked, fingers knotting themselves together.

She perked up, looking up to stare him in the eyes. "Ah! Ash. Right this way, please."

He followed her as she walked back to her desk, withdrawing a pokeball from a slot under the front counter. She handed it over, smiling. "He should be completely healed and very proud of himself. Please be sure to congratulate him - he's quite the powerful ekans to take down one older than him."

He grinned happily back at her. "Don't worry. I will."

"Then please head to the police station as soon as possible. Officer Jenny wants to speak to you about the attack, and I've heard that she has a reward for you."

Ash perked up. "A reward?"

Nurse Joy chuckled softly. "Yes, Ash. A reward. You took down a dangerous criminal's pokemon and helped to imprison them. You will receive something for your work."

"Bye, Nurse Joy!" He shouted, booking it out of the Pokemon Center. She waved before turning to the next trainer.

He ran down the street, dodging the people who were stopped on the side of the street and pointing at the building. The break was even more visible from here, a jagged cut carved across the curve of the dome. He hoped they got it fixed soon - the poor kadabra would probably start to get exhausted soon, protecting an entire ceiling.

But there wasn't any time to focus on that.

He was getting a reward!

Tucking Apep's pokeball closer to his chest, he ran on. He didn't really know where he was going, but at the speed he was running, he would find it sooner rather than later.

And find it he did.

It was a rather blank building, grey with blue highlights. _Viridian City Police_ was stamped across the front of the roof, glinting with shiny metal. The door was propped open, and Ash could already see a mass of people inside, most likely talking about the attack.

He wandered in.

It was dark, but he adjusted quickly. Officer Jenny was standing behind a desk, even larger bags under her eyes than the last time he had seen her. There was a man talking to every person walking in, sending most of them back out on the street. Ash wandered over to him.

"Why are you here?" The man asked, looking him over with a steely eye. There was a power in his arms and legs that Ash did not doubt he could use.

"Um - Officer Jenny sent for me."

The man raised an eyebrow. "Really? Name?"

"Ash Ketchum."

His expression cleared. "Ah! Please go to her - don't mind the other people. We'll keep them in line."

Ash didn't doubt that they wouldn't. "Okay, sir."

He trotted past the line, ignoring the angry shouts of those he was cutting. Officer Jenny glared at him as he arrived before her face cleared. "Ash! Good. Come here, please."

She pointed toward an office off to the side, and he meekly walked behind her to it. The door swung closed to cut off angry mutters.

Collapsing on a chair, she sucked in a deep breath before composing herself. She turned to him, face serious.

"Ash Ketchum. You helped to take down a pokemon owned by a member of Team Rocket. There was a reward on that certain member - her name is Jessie - and the League has decided that you should be able to claim it."

His eyes shot open wide. "W-what?"

She smiled at his gobsmacked expression. "She's part of Team Rocket, and Kalos has already taught us about ignoring criminals or letting them escape. There's a reward on all of their heads the second they put on the uniform. To be fair, its a rather small reward because she only bugged us and failed in their every mission, but a reward is a reward. You aided in their capture, therefore you get the reward."

Was this really happening? He nodded quickly. "Yes. I accept it."

Jenny smiled brighter. "Perfect. Let me just grab it real quick."

She reached under her desk, pulling out an envelope. It didn't look like much, especially nothing that came from the Indigo League. His heart quivered at the very thought.

The League was rewarding him!

Jenny slid it across the desk, and he picked it, hands steady despite the fact they felt like they were shaking.

"It's not much, as all she really did was annoy and attempt to steal things. But I feel that for a beginning trainer, this might help you greatly." There was a smile on her face as he struggled to get the top open before finally succeeding.

Ash reached in and pulled out a slim grey card. It had lines and numbers carved over it, _Indigo League_ stamped right on the top. He shot her a confused look.

"That there is a gift card. On it is three thousand dollars, redeemable at any Pokemon Center."

He gaped at it, flicking his gaze from the card to her.

Jenny chuckled, slapping her desk. "Every time! But seriously, spend it wisely. I know that's enough for a reusable TM or a ton of potions and revives, but make sure you also have food for your journey."

He nodded weakly, and she yawned once more before pointing to the door. "Off you scram. Nurse Joy might take a while to be able to redeem it with the chaos, but if you can be a bit patient you can spend it soon."

Ash walked to the door, left the office, left the building, and whooped for joy.

He had enough money to buy a TM! Any TM that he wanted would be his, except for the too expensive ones like Hyper Beam. But Earthquake would be plugged into Apep's pokeball in under an hour.

He froze.

Apep would be learning Iron Tail, which was super effective against ground types. But Earthquake wouldn't do much of anything beyond that first gym, maybe only helping him against the electric type Surge.

It wouldn't do him much good to buy it now, or any TM for that matter. He had one pokemon - it would be just his luck to buy a reusable TM and only have one pokemon able to use it. He had to wait until he caught another pokemon.

But he consoled himself by thinking of Apep blazing onto the field with metallic energy building around his tail.

Next pokemon, he would buy a TM that both of them could use. And he would be unstoppable.

But for now, he would be heading off to Pewter City immediately. He had enough potions and revives if Apep was ever overpowered, and he had already checked to make sure he had enough food to last him through Viridian Forest. And in the slim chance he ended up with more than three pokemon in the journey, then he could use all of the berries he would find.

It would work perfectly.

Mind made up, he started toward Route 2.

Someone stopped him.

A hand thumped onto his shoulder, almost enough strength to push him to the ground. It retracted instantly and an apology trickled to his ears. He winced, tapped the hand on his shoulder, and turned around. "Hello, Leaf."

She grinned back at him, pulling back her hand. "Sorry 'bout that, Ash. Forget you're a wimp sometimes."

He laughed and pushed her shoulder. "Ha ha. Enjoying my bulbasaur?"

Leaf was a girl that looked like she should have gone into wrestling instead of pokemon training. Ever since she was young, she had tackled martial arts with a ferocity that had scared both her parents and her friends, though she always made time for them to play. Medals and ribbons decorated her room from all of the competitions she had won, including one where she battled a machop and managed to pull a victory, though the pokemon hadn't used any moves in order to avoid hurting her. She had been bruised for days but that medal she won was right in the middle of her shelf.

Her shoulder looked more like basketballs and she had arms capable of punching through wood. He had been kidding himself if he thought that lifting Apep would make him stronger than her.

"Yeah, he's a kickass little guy." She patted her first pokeball, drawing Ash's eyes to the second one perched by her hip. His eyes flew open.

"What? You already got a second pokemon?" He asked, feeling suddenly protective of Apep.

She grinned. "Well, I didn't capture it. My parents made a promise to me that if I behaved for like seventeen years they'd get me a fighting type when I started my journey, which is all I wanted. Too many mowed lawns and clean windows later, and they gave it to me yesterday. She's the feistiest machop I've ever seen, and though she's a bit too short we've been able to battle pretty well now."

"That's awesome," he said, and he meant it. All Leaf wanted was to become a fighting type Champion, and Bruno was more her god than Arceus. He worried about anyone who stood in her way.

"No battles though, Ketchum. I've got three days here in Viridian before I start on my journey, and there's no way I'm stopping my training."

He was a bit disappointed, but accepted it. "Alright. I wish you luck, Leaf. Though you didn't have to steal my bulbasaur," he teased.

She swatted his arm. "Ha! You wish. He's already smacked down my machop when I let them loose - there's no way you'll take this fighter from me."

They traded a few more goodbyes. Neither told any strategies and since she didn't ask what pokemon he had gotten he didn't tell her - they were rivals now, fighting to be the best in the world.

But he was sad to see her go. Leaf was a good friend, though not as close as Gary and he were. The next time he'd see her, she'd probably kick his butt all the way to the Conference if he didn't get stronger.

His resolve strengthened, he turned back to Route 2.

It was a dark and dreary place from the moment he stepped in. The forest, while pretty, hid the light and let only filtered shadows stretch across the path, and the rustle and scratch of dead leaves in a wind was particularly unsettling.

But then he was a safe enough distance away from the town that he didn't worry about Apep getting attacked for possibly being the Team Rocket woman's pokemon, and he chucked his pokeball at the ground.

Apep appeared in a burst of red light, not even hesitating before springing right into a battle coil, hissing furiously.

And then he blinked and looked around, noticing only trees and Ash, who was currently doubled over laughing.

"Good job, Apep," he gasped, almost breaking out again at the snake's disgruntled expression. "If that ekans was still there, it wouldn't even stand a chance before you knocked it clean out of the sky."

Apep relaxed, slithering slightly forward to let his back hit a sunbeam. He rumbled happily.

Ash knelt next to him. "Look at me, Apep. You know what happened? You took down an adult's pokemon, an ekans, no less. You took it down and didn't even let it recover before attacking again. I'm so proud of you, bud."

Apep rattled his tail before stretching his head up, and Ash chuckled before starting to scratch under his jaw. He continued talking.

"We got a reward, bud. Three thousand dollars. That's enough for a TM, but we're going to be waiting a bit until we catch another pokemon, okay?"

He nodded.

"But now we're going to train. Rock and ground types are slow, really slow, so you need to be fast to not get him. I know you wanted to learn Acid, but we're not." A furious hiss came from the snake. Ash rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. Instead, to help you survive in the gym battle, you're going to be learning Iron Tail, which is where- wait, give me a second…"

He pulled out his pokedex, quickly flicking to the moves section.

 _Iron Tail. The pokemon hits the opposing pokemon with its tail, charging steel type energy through it. This move is physical._

"It's super effective against Brock's pokemon, okay? So when we aren't moving, you'll be learning that. When we are moving, I'm not going to pick you up unless you're really exhausted, okay? You need to get really fast."

Apep leveled an extremely unimpressed look at him.

"I know, it's hard. But think how'll strong you'll be!"

The only response he got was an annoyed tail rattle before the snake began to move, slithering over the ground and pointedly staying in front of him. Ash chuckled and trotted to catch up, walking as comfortable as he could. They'd be stopping around six in the afternoon to train and rest, and he guessed that Apep's smug attitude would have melted away as soon as they reached hour three.

It was an hour before they met their first trainer.

A small girl, in tan trousers and a blue shirt, wearing a League issued pokemon hat. Her's had a dratini on it, cooing happily at an invisible audience. Two pokeballs were on her waist.

Her eyes flew open immediately upon seeing him. She couldn't have been more than eight years old.

"I challenge you to a pokemon battle!" She squeaked, falling into an obviously practiced pose. "Two on two!"

Ash blinked, looking down at Apep. The pokemon wasn't tired, not close yet, but even he probably couldn't take down two pokemon, especially if one was a starter.

Wait.

This girl was below ten years of age and was in the Viridian Forest. She was one of the bug trainers that he had been so worried about. Her two pokemon were probably nothing more than weedle and caterpie, and if her appearance was anything to go on, he didn't guess that they would be too strong or well balanced.

And Apep really, really, really needed to get stronger. Though he hadn't even started to learn Iron Tail, his other moves needed to be strengthened.

"I've only got one," he said slowly. "But I'll take on your two."

The girl smirked, stretching out a hand. "My name is Riley! I'm going to be the best bug trainer in Viridian Forest!"

He smiled at her. Her enthusiasm was catching. "Why are you trying to be a bug trainer?"

She shot him a look that said everything. "Really? I'm only nine. I can't get a starter yet, but I can train using the easiest pokemon to train."

Ash blinked. He hadn't thought about it like that. "But you're wasting money."

Riley shrugged. "Not really. I don't have to give too much away, and I've been winning more and more battles. A lot of bug trainers actually make money by the time they start their journey."

He perked up. Well, now he would feel a lot less guilty about creaming them all with his ekans. "Then let's start the battle."

She grinned and took several steps back, blonde hair bouncing around her shoulders. Grabbing her first pokeball, she threw it out on the field.

A caterpie, bright green and obviously well cared for, appeared with a brilliant flash on the field. It shook its head before tensing up.

Ash almost casually snapped his fingers. Apep, who had curled protectively behind his feet, slithered forward, hissing furiously. His dark purple scales glinted in the light, golden ring and rattle shining just as brightly.

Riley's eyes widened. "That's not one of the starters!"

"Professor Oak was out. Apep! Poison Fang!"

Apep lunged forward, almost like a speeding bullet. His mouth gaped, beads of venom slipping down his fangs.

"Avoid it!"

Caterpie shot a String Shot above its head, the white, sticky strand landing a hit on a branch. In a second, the string was pulled taut and Caterpie was lifted into the air, swaying slightly. Apep flew by underneath. The snake growled along with Ash, who narrowed his eyes.

"Apep!" He barked. "Push off the ground and get a Poison Fang in its tail."

Riley yelped and started shouting, fists clenched. "Drop and Tackle!"

Caterpie dropped, dully growing a pale white around its head and torso as it landed directly in Apep's open mouth.

Apep recoiled from the Tackle attack but crunched down, fangs slicing cleanly past Caterpie's skin. Venom pumped from his fangs.

But even as Caterpie slid dully from his mouth and passed out, it didn't wince. Not once. It hadn't been poisoned.

Ash whistled, eyes wide. Apep shook himself, almost preening. His scales caught the light perfectly.

Riley sighed as she recalled Caterpie, a frown on her lips. But then she brightened again like it had never happened. "That's all fine. I only caught that caterpie about a week ago, and all I've mainly done is train him on dodging. Even you have to admit that him catching the branch and jumping into the air was pretty neat!"

Ash nodded. It was. But he did have a question- "Why didn't it get poisoned?"

She leveled him a raised eyebrow. "Shield Dust. His ability. Status conditions from regular damaging moves don't affect him because he really isn't made of very much - beneath his skin is a layer of something like dust that keeps him from getting poisoned or burned and stuff, which is great!"

Ash nodded, the information storing away. Good to know.

Apep was still raring to go, rattling his tail lightly. The sound was dry and rough, and that meant he was quite far from evolution. Arbok lost their rattles as they evolved, and it would start to sound smoother and softer as he grew stronger.

But then Riley grinned, back straightening. "But my other pokemon is far stronger. I've had her for nearly three months, and she won't go down as easily as my Caterpie!"

Ash raised an eyebrow, but it did worry him a bit.

He didn't have much time to think about a strategy before her pokeball landed on the ground and a beedrill exploded from it.

Red eyes glinted darkly in its angular head, and its transparent wings buzzed with a sharp humming sound. Its needles, dagger sharp and glinting, flashed through the air.

Ash stilled. The beedrill looked powerful, yellow bright and black shining in the air. It wouldn't be taken down as easily as Caterpie. And it was poison type as well as bug type, so it couldn't be poisoned and he didn't have the type advantage.

Riley grinned. "Ready? Bug Bite!"

Beedrill's mouth snapped open and it sprang forward furiously, wings buzzing. Apep crouched low and flung himself to the side, eyes narrowed. His tail thumped against the ground, sounding out in a warning rattle. Beedrill didn't even flinch.

"Poison Sting!" He bit his lip. What would his strategy be against this fully evolved pokemon?

Oh, why couldn't he have gotten a charmander!

The purple sludge flew through the air and landed against Beedrill's back, but it only shook itself and growled. The poison slipped off its body and landed on the ground, crackling.

"Bug Bite again!" The girl was looking far too smug, and Ash didn't even have a strategy yet.

The pokemon was fast. He had to slow it down.

"Apep! Use Wrap and get around those wings!"

The snake gave a low roar, the loudest sound Ash had ever heard. He kicked off the ground and soared through the air even as Beedrill's mouth glowed a pale green.

His tail smacked against Beedrill's chest and it went downhill for Riley from there.

Apep's head snaked from Beedrill's thin neck, who spat and clicked in a terrible fury. But by then, his torso was wrapped around and his tail was curling around the back of Beedrill's wings.

The pokemon wasn't light, and Beedrill was definitely feeling it. Though it had been confidently flying only a few moments before, its wings faltered as Apep continued to press his tail against the left one. One of its needles flew up and stabbed at Apep, but it bounced off his thick back scales. The other was pinned between Apep's body, though it twisted and tried to break free.

"Beedrill! Twineedle on that snake, now!" Riley shouted, fists clenched and raised in front of her. She didn't look happy.

Ash, however, was. Apep only had to worry about one needle, and he had plenty more than he could squeeze. "Keep going with Wrap, bud! Don't let up!"

Apep rumbled and tightened his grip. Beedrill let out a pained hiss and fell even closer to the ground. Its hind leg skimmed the earth even as it slammed its needle into Apep's back, pounding harder and harder.

There was a pained hiss from the snake, but he still kept tightening.

Ash grinned. "Poison Fang on its neck!"

Apep hissed and bit down sharply, and Beedrill's eyes finally fluttered closed.

"Yes!" He crowed, watching Apep carefully untangled himself from the downed pokemon. He slithered up to Ash, eyes bright. "You did it, Apep! Two pokemon in a row!"

Apep hissed happily, coiling into a ball and rattling his tail.

Riley groaned, stretching a hand over her eyes as soon as she recalled Beedrill. "Ah man. I was really hoping that she would take you down."

Ash just grinned at her. "Apep took down an adult ekans just yesterday, and he's only getting stronger."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Brag about your fancy pokemon. Here's your winnings."

There was a small roll of money, maybe fifty dollars. He was consciously aware of the three thousand card in his bag, but that fifty could buy him a regular potion or a good meal at a restaurant. Every dollar had worth.

He accepted it, slipping it into his bag, nestling it next to the card. "Thanks for the battle."

She gave him a real smile, clicking her pokeball back on her waist. "Maybe I'll see you again. I turn ten in only six months!"

"Sure."

And then they shook hands, Apep coiling underneath them. He got a stroke on the head from Riley before the girl started to march on the path back to Viridian City, eyes narrowed.

The second she had left, Apep instantly looked up at him pleadingly. He rumbled sadly, opening and closing his mouth. The same trilling pidgey sound escaped from him, light and airy.

Ash rolled his eyes. Digging through his bag, he pulled out an oran berry and tossed it to him. Apep snatched it up, swallowing it as fast as water. It was down his gullet and he started to look up at him again.

"We've still got around five hours of traveling, Apep," he warned. "And then right after that we're going to be training you up for Iron Tail. And we're also going to be trying to catch another pokemon, okay?"

With every word that came out of his mouth, Apep curled in on himself more. Ash snorted.

"Oh, you're not that lazy. I've seen you battle." He paused. "Tell you what. Every time you beat a pokemon we come across, I'll give you an extra berry, okay?"

Apep rolled his eyes, but turned back to the path. Ash laughed and started to move.

They only had five hours left before Ash wanted to stop, but it was the busiest five hours Ash had ever seen. Bug trainers came to him seemingly every thirty minutes, and he must have faced at least eight on just his first day.

Apep took care of most of the bug types, though weedles and their evolutions gave him some trouble with their poison typing. He only lost once to an obviously skilled beedrill that used Fury Swipes without end, but Ash called the battle off before Apep could faint. He gave the trainer fifty dollars and quickly healed him up.

The snake sulked before perking back up as Ash reminded him they only had twenty more minutes until he wanted to stop.

When they did, Apep was disappointed as Ash kept walking for another fifteen minutes until he found a small alcove off the side of the path, close enough he could still see the open dirt.

The clearing was small, but there was one more reason Ash had chosen it - a large boulder pressed against the side of a tree.

Apep stared at it mistrustingly.

"Okay. Apep. This is a bit difficult to understand, but I want you to hit the rock with your tail."

The snake stared at him.

Ash sucked in a breath, trying to remember the strategy he had thought up. "The trick is how you have to learn how to hit it with your tail to learn how to hit it hard, and then steel type energy will start to gather around your tail. But for right now, I just want you to hit your tail against the rock. Don't worry about the jump or anything yet."

Apep now looked moderately panicked.

"I've got potions and oran berries a plenty, so don't worry about being in pain. We've got to learn this move, buddy."

After an extremely long look, Apep finally slithered over to the rock and just stared at it. But eventually, he started to hit it with his tail.

Ash took the time to make the camp, unfurling his blanket and spreading it over the ground. It was warm, even in the early spring, and he didn't need anything over himself. He brought out food and nibbled while he watched Apep train.

He hadn't made any progress, but it was the first night. With every hit however, though there wasn't any steel type energy, the rock grumbled and cracked a little more. The night came and passed without any energy, but Ash just healed him up and told him how proud he was, and gave him a little more food than he had planned.

"Do you want to go back in your pokeball?" He asked, holding up the object in question.

Apep fixed it with an interested look, tilting his head to the side. He lifted his head up and sniffed it once before leaning back, hissing at it. He shook his head, and there was a definite no for that question.

Ash shrugged, though inside he was happy. "Suit yourself. I've got a blanket if you want to…"

And when he laid down, scales curled against his side. Apep had laid parallel to him, tail flopping over his legs while his head balanced on his chest. The snake quickly warmed up against his skin, scales a comforting heat. Every breath he took, Apep's head rose slightly and with every breath he took, Ash could feel his chest swell. It was incredibly comforting to feel his pokemon, to feel another living creature next to him as he flung himself across the great land of Kanto on just the hope to become the Pokemon Master, the same hope that so many other trainers also held.

But he believed in himself, and he believed in Apep, and as he looked up at the stretch of stars he could see, he believed in the hope, as well.

The next day passed much the same. They woke up and took around an hour to fully wake up, blearily yawning and trying to pack up the blanket several times, never getting it tight enough. Food was handed out and Apep wrestled a berry out of him as well, and Ash made sure to remind himself to keep his eyes peeled for more. Apep would eat out the entire Pokemon Mart if he could.

But then they were on the path and moving, and bug trainers came like a swarm. More and more came and went, and as each passed Apep grew in strength.

He had finally at least mastered Poison Fang, even if he hadn't perfected it. Every bite he gave shot loads of venom into his prey, and the move poisoned nearly every non-poison type pokemon they came across. He had guessed that Apep was actually quite newly hatched, as he didn't know how to control his venom amounts very well yet.

But that was the joy of him being a poison type. If a different pokemon had Poison Fang as an egg move they hadn't perfected, it would take them significant amounts of time and changed diets to be able to produce enough venom to master it. Apep naturally produced poison with nearly everything he did. By Mew, even his blood was partially poisonous, though he didn't know that as a fact.

But he had read it on the pokedex that night as Apep slammed his tail onto a much smaller rock. There still wasn't any steel energy but Ash didn't care. The rock had nearly broken in half by the time he called it quits, and Apep was needing less and less healing after every night.

It went the same for the day after that, and the day after that, and the day after that, until they were on the last day of their first week in the forest.

It hasn't been a bad day, as there had been a bug trainer with a particularly wily venonat that had been quite fun to battle. Apep was complaining again, letting off hisses every now and then. His voice was growing deeper, his rumbles sounding like thunder.

Ash had spent the entire morning and last night celebrating because finally, for the first time, Apep had summoned a tiny bit of steel type energy while he was hitting a rock. It had flickered, a dull grey in color, over the end of his tail for only a second but it was there.

Apep was nearly force-fed an oran berry and sent to work on it again, and on his third try it came back again. Ash knew that since he had now touched the element, its moves would come much easier. That was why it was so important to master the simple elemental moves before going to more difficult ones.

But Ask was confident. If anyone was going to learn a tutor move in under two weeks without a tutor, it would be him and Apep.

It was about then, when they were happily strolling down the path with Ash walking and Apep slithering, that something darted in the bushes right n front of them.

Ash blinked.

The little bugger had to have been rather large. He had seen many wild pokemon, and he and Apep had battled some of the stronger ones, but he hadn't found one that he wanted to capture. The bug types fell too easily to Apep and their evolutions, while easy to train, were not very strong. Pidgey flew often across the path in front of them, but he hadn't found one that had more attacks than Tackle and Sand Attack. Pidgeots were insanely powerful raised right, but the ones he had come across so far were lazy, relaxed creatures.

So this pokemon, the one large enough to shake a few leaves from a tree and send a bush shaking, spiked his interest.

"Come on, Apep!" He hissed, turning and jumping through the woods.

The snake rumbled but slithered after him, hissing at the rocks that scratched his underbelly. They didn't have to run far before the trees melted away into grass and underbrush, and Ash victoriously stopped in front of the pokemon.

It was a nidoran, male by the purple coloring. But the thing was _enormous_.

Normal nidoran only reached up to ankles, maybe calves as they started small in their first evolution. This monster was only a little beneath his knees, and though its legs were still stubby he looked powerful. His horn was small and there were no forming spikes on the back of his legs, so he wasn't that close to evolution, either. He was just incredibly huge.

And Ash wanted him.

A second poison type but one that looked like it could take on a steel type and dominate. He didn't even know his moves, but the way the thing growled and crouched lower, horn dipping a bead of poison, he wanted it.

"Apep!" He called. "Ready for battle?

* * *

 **Hey everyone!**

 **Pokemon fic with smarter Ash and hopeful competentness. So Ash will go about on this Anime/game mix that will eventually get him to where he needs to be, with a better attitude and better team!**

 **But here's the thing. Updates are going to be kind of far and few in between, because the chapters are so long. I mean, ten thousand words. That thing ain't exactly going to be popping out every other day.**

 **So yeah. Sporadic updates, but nice long juicy ones you guys can read for a long time. I have no idea how long this fic will be, but I'm hoping a pretty decent length. Pushing a hundred thousand, I'm hoping. Maybe more like two if I'm lucky, and if my fingers can support themselves for that long.**

 **But hey! What do you guys think of Apep? He's pretty fun to write, a lazy but battle ready snake with some awesome moves. Ekans doesn't really have a lot of moves to learn, so he'll be pretty limited to TMs once he peaks.**

 **Although I don't really plan on him catching more than seven, maybe eight pokemon. A smaller team that he can train awesomely. I don't know whether he'll specialize or not.**

 **Anyway! Please read and review!**

 **Frost OUT!**


	2. Boulder Badge

The nidoran was enormous, he knew that from the first look. But there was something else that caused his eyebrows to furrow.

Sure, pokemon varied, though less so than humans. They grew larger and smaller than average, but this nidoran was much too large. Like someone had grabbed him and pulled in all directions until he was enormous.

He also looked different.

Other than the fact he was big.

His legs were rounded and tipped with sharp silver claws, but they were too long. The purple was dark but too light around his ears and his muzzle was too angular. His ears were much bigger than his head but not large enough to be proportional. And strangest of all, there were hints of ridges across his spine, thin and moderately jagged.

If he didn't know better, he'd think that the nidoran was trying to evolve straight into a nidoking.

Apep hissed once, coiling in on himself with his head poking out the top while his tail rattled over the ground. The nidoran crouched lower at the sound, eyes narrowing into slits. He didn't seem like he wanted to run away, even though the forest was open to him. Apep might have been able to go after him, though Ash wouldn't have been able to follow. But the nidoran just snorted once, more beads of dark purple poison dripping from his horn.

He wanted to battle, but Ash wasn't quite as confident as he was before. Wild pokemon wanted to get stronger, of course, but that was just to survive. They trained against either members of their family or their prey, but never directly challenged trainers, as pokemon could be captured.

So either this pokemon wanted to be captured - which wouldn't happen, as most pokemon couldn't understand pokeballs or want to be under a trainer's care. Or the pokemon was sure he would win, and that was what worried Ash.

Wild pokemon didn't get that big, or that confident, without having ridiculous training. No sane trainer would let this monster nidoran just go back into the wild after training it, so it had learned tactics to avoid being eaten in the wild.

And he was not quite that confident in Apep.

But he wanted that nidoran.

Two poison types, but one a powerhouse and one lightning fast.

And so he stood strong, straightening his shoulders and tensing up. He didn't have any ideas of what the nidoran knew for moves, but it probably knew Tackle and basic poison attacks. Basic poison attacks that wouldn't affect Apep. Wild pokemon never learned the realities of type advantages. He didn't want to waste time trying to get close enough to the pokemon to scan it, and so would be winging his whole strategy.

Oh Mew, he hoped this worked.

"Apep!"

The snake looked up at him, rumbling and rattling his tail curiously. He was ready to battle, just like the nidoran.

"Leer as many times as you can before it gets close!" He clenched his fists, biting his tongue.

Apep reared up, flexing the bare fledging of a hood. He hissed furiously, sticking out his forked black tongue.

The nidoran shook himself, muscles tensing and making it easier to bruise and attack him. Apep kept using Leer, trying to get the nidoran's defense as low as possible with the one move.

But then he lowered himself closer to the ground, growling softly. It was rougher, more like rocks than the rumble of Apep. He tensed his legs, lowering his head. His horn looked much too sharp for comfort.

"Start dodging," he muttered. Apep started to slither slowly to the side, staring hissing and glaring furiously.

The nidoran shook himself, and Ash started to panic. Thin poisonous barbs protruded from his legs and neck and even body, sharp as a dagger. They wouldn't do much damage with physical attacks but poisoning was nearly a guarantee. Apep had double protection against that - poison type and the ability Shed Skin - but it would be painful to use Wrap with those spikes everywhere.

"Poison Sting! Don't let him catch a break!" He barked.

Apep reared back, spitting globs of dark purple poison. It splattered against the nidoran's side, who didn't even try to dodge. The poison slid harmlessly off of his side, but he had taken a step back when it had hit him. He was much too confident.

Ash was officially never letting this nidoran attack his pokemon. Time to take a leaf out of Riley's book. "Climb up the tree, then land on the nidoran with Wrap!"

They hadn't practiced it much, but Apep was able to dart toward the nearest tree and slither up the trunk, and the bottom branch was low enough he was able to get his upper body around it and curl up.

The nidoran crouched lower, ears pressing against his back. He growled again, gnashing his teeth. His eyes flashed up to the sky, eyeing the tail of the snake disappearing up the last of the branch.

But then Apep fell from the sky with a rattled hiss.

He slammed into the nidoran, tail thumping against the ground. But he managed to get his head around the nidoran's torso and start squeezing.

A growled roar and the nidoran was violently shaking itself, spikes snapping out even more. Apep hissed in pain, eyes wide. Each and every single one of the barbs on the nidoran's body was digging into his body, and while they didn't poison him, if he squeezed too tight they might break past his skin.

And the nidoran was far from done.

His defense was lowered but it was still a monster of a pokemon. With a violent shake, he managed to knock half of Apep's body off, much faster than normal. He growled and stepped back, horn glowing a brilliant blue.

The nidoran managed to stand on his back legs and stab down with his horn, the flying type move Peck ripping Apep off of him and throwing him across the clearing.

Ash gaped.

Peck was one of the first moves nidorans started with. It was basic, just shoving with their horn. Most perfected it and then moved onto stronger attacks, because it wasn't that powerful.

It shouldn't have been enough to _end_ Wrap, which was a move specifically used to stop the opponent from attacking back.

He had to get close and use his lowered defense. "Iron Tail!"

Apep coiled back up, hissing. There was a heavy bruise on his side, but the attack hadn't gotten past his scales. His tail brightened with silver energy, flashing up to cover nearly half of his body. It wasn't as strong as it could have been but it was there, flickering rapidly. He had to use it fast. Apep couldn't keep it up for very long, and the longer he tried to keep the energy up the weaker the attack was.

"Iron Tail! As fast as you can!" He barked, grabbing at his waist. A pokeball was clenched in his hand, and he returned it to full size. He had to be ready for the second Apep weakened him enough.

Apep slithered forward, even as the nidoran growled and shook his head, horn faintly pulsing a light white.

But the snake was faster and he slammed his silver tail onto the nidoran's side.

There was a rumble of protest but he just stumbled once, not even falling over. Ash's eyes widened.

Oh, they really had to work on that move.

"Poison Sting, and then hit him down with an Iron Tail! Try to hit him on the top of the head, but avoid the horn!"

Apep fired a burst of purple poison and it pushed the nidoran back one more step, and he growled and shook his head. His horn was full on glowing now, much too sharp.

But with the distance, Apep was able to charge up one more Iron Tail and nail the nidoran square in the middle of the head with it. There was an actual roar as he collapsed, legs splaying out on either side.

"Get back, Apep! Use Poison Sting when you aren't dodging!" He was feeling almost optimistic. Two Iron Tails, too many Leers, Poison Stings, and Wrap? This pokemon was going down.

At least until the nidoran charged forward and slammed his horn into Apep's stomach. Horn Attack.

Apep flew backward and crashed against a tree, crumpling to the ground. He was knocked out near instantly.

Ash blinked, but the nidoran just growled and shook himself, turning to walk back into the forest.

He threw the pokeball.

It thumped against the nidoran's back, bursting open and sucking the pokemon inside with the same brilliant red light. It fell to the ground, shaking violently. Ash grabbed Apep's pokeball and recalled him, attaching it to his belt without looking. His eyes were glued to the pokeball.

The nidoran broke free, looking absolutely furious. He turned around, roaring and spitting out a glob of poison.

Ash threw another pokeball.

The nidoran threw himself to the side to try and avoid it, but the pokeball hit him all the same. It shook against the ground but Ash flung himself forward, wrapping his hands around it. The pokeball seemed to shake less so he pinned it beneath his weight, trying not to think about what would happen if the nidoran got loose.

And finally, the pokeball stilled and let out a quiet chirp, signalling a capture. He had captured a pokemon.

Ash groaned and fell over onto his side, sighing loudly. The nidoran had beaten Apep in only two moves and had taken too many to count. He wasn't anything like that criminal's ekans, nothing so easy.

But he had captured it.

A monster of a pokemon to defeat the Pewter City Gym with. Though there was a type disadvantage, Ash was pretty sure the nidoran could eat geodudes for breakfast and take on onix for warm ups.

But first, his other pokemon.

He pulled off his bag, digging through the bag he kept his medical supplies in. This would be the second revive he had used so far, but there was only another week until he was in Pewter and still had four left. He also snatched up two super potions, one for each pokemon. That was if the nidoran even pretended to listen to him.

Apep's pokeball was tossed to the ground and the snake appeared, flopped over on the ground. There was a sliver of dark red blood from where the Horn Attack had actually managed to break a few of his scales, and the bruise from the Peck was large as well. Two attacks, and he was out.

Bug trainers had not prepared him in the slightest.

So he sprayed him with one of the super potions first, putting most of it on the cut and the rest on the bruise. The scales knitted themselves together, strengthening and solidifying until they were the same as all around them. He pressed his fingers to each spot, not noticing anything different. The potions were incredible things.

He broke open the diamond package of the revive and let the powder fall into Apep's mouth, before hurriedly jumping back a step.

And a good thing for that.

The second Apep's eyes flickered open he roared furiously and threw himself up, coiling in and hissing angrily. He barely seemed to recognize anything around him, Poison Sting building in his mouth.

"Apep!" Ash yelped, throwing himself backward.

The snake stilled, blinking once before stopping his attack. He spat out the poison onto the ground before uncoiling, looking all around. There was nothing trying to attack either one of them.

He rattled his tail curiously at the pokeball in Ash's hand.

"Okay." He let out a deep breath before focusing. "Apep, this is the nidoran we just battled."

There was a furious hiss.

"And now he's on our team, so none of that!" He barked. "This nidoran is going to eat, train, and live with us, so if you keep being this bad with him still in his pokeball that means that you will be staying in yours!"

Apep stopped, though his tail rattled darkly.

"I'm going to set him free. Don't you dare attack him unless I tell you to, okay? That's the rule."

And with that, he gently lobbed the pokeball at the ground.

The nidoran appeared in a burst of red light, grumbling. But then he stopped, staring at the perfectly fine Apep. His red eyes flicked over where he had attacked the snake, and then up to the sky, where the sun hadn't moved even the slightest. There appeared to be confusion on his face on why Apep wasn't still injured.

Ash stepped forward, holding up the super potion. "I'm going to heal you, okay? It shouldn't hurt but it might sting."

The nidoran nodded, head tilted.

He sprayed the potion along every bruise he could find, specifically the large ones from the two Iron Tails. They had to have hurt, but he had just shrugged them off. In only a few moments, the nidoran was completely healed. Ash sprayed the leftovers on his back before stepping back, slipping the bottle in his bag.

The pokemon flexed, looking over his body with something akin to wonder. Ash quickly dug through his pack and pulled out another potion. The nidoran's eyes narrowed in on it, head tilted.

"I captured you. That makes me your trainer. I'm going to make all of my pokemon the strongest they can ever be, and that includes you."

The nidoran looked less than impressed, flexing his muscles, though his barbs stayed below his skin. Ash silently cursed. Of course the pokemon didn't worry about becoming stronger - he probably hadn't been challenged in his entire life, being as large and powerful as he was.

He tried another approach, lifting the potion. "I have more of these, able to heal any injury you get. This will keep you safe and I'll be able to feed and heal and keep you safe for the rest of your life, okay? You won't have to worry about anything and I'll still make you stronger than you've ever been before and let you evolve into a powerful nidoking."

There was a moment of silence before the nidoran nodded. Ash couldn't contain his glee, grinning wide enough to split his face. "I'm going to scan you, okay? It just tells me how strong you are."

The nidoran's chest puffed out.

He pulled out his pokedex and inched closer, holding the scanner over his head. It beeped before a screen popped open.

 _Nidoran, the poison pin pokemon. Their large ears have special muscles to allow them to swivel in every direction to be able to hear anything approaching, and they can hear things for up to a mile away. When threatened, they extend toxic spikes all over their body and attack to poison enemies._

 _This pokemon is male with no held item. He knows the moves Leer, Peck, Horn Attack, and Toxic Spikes. His ability is Poison Point, which causes poisoning with contact._

Ash blinked. Four moves, and this pokemon managed to cream his starter using only two? And what even were Toxic Spikes, anyway?

 _Toxic Spikes. This moves creates hardened poison in the form of spikes around the field to poison pokemon who come in contact. This move is status-affecting._

If only Apep could learn that. It sounded bloody useful in multiple pokemon battles, especially two-on-two with Apep and this nidoran, who couldn't be poisoned. That would be nice against Brock.

But there was something else he had to look up. He switched to the search bar and typed in _overly large pokemon_ and started to search over the results.

Something popped up from the official Indigo League website and he clicked it, quickly reading the first paragraph.

 _Though it is an uncommon spectacle, some pokemon can be born overly large. It has been coined with a name kingsize, and while it does not affect any moves or power the pokemon has, it does increase their size enormously. They grow at an accelerated rate and have a higher metabolism, but it does not affect them otherwise. The mutation occurs much more often in the wild in plentiful locations with many opportunities for food, and so are becoming easier and easier to find with the ever-growing pokemon parks, where tree cutting and building is illegal. It is more likely to happen to pokemon whose parents are the evolved form of themselves, and there is currently one breeding farm that focuses on breeding kingsize pokemon. Click_ _link_ _to visit their website._

"Kingsize, huh? That's awesome." And it certainly made sense. It was much easier to believe a mutation than just natural growth. That was like finding a ten foot human.

Although he would need to buy more pokemon food. He guessed that the extra he had for another pokemon would all be given to the nidoran, and Apep might have to start zealously guarding his berries.

But onto more important matters. He sat down in the clearing, bag in his lap. Apep coiled next to him, pointedly turning his back to the nidoran.

The pokemon didn't seem to care at all, lumbering closer. He had seemed fast on the road, but now he seemed content to just trot around. Ash would definitely have to work on that. Nidorans only got slower as they evolved, and any chance of increasing his speed would be taken with glee.

"Okay, nidoran. Do you want a nickname?"

Apep looked almost betrayed when the nidoran nodded.

"Well, you're kingsize, and that's awesome. You also evolve into nidoking, but King would be kind of cliche, don't you think?"

He just stared at him blankly.

"But what about Royal? We could shorten it to Ro if you want."

There was a pause before the newly christened Royal nodded.

Ash grinned. "Ro it is! But let me tell you the plan." He pulled back up the search button on his pokedex and looked over the moves Ro could learn. He bit his lip, eyes narrowing before he perked back up.

"Okay! So what you're going to be learning is Double Kick, which is a fighting type move. Then, if possible, you're going to be learning Iron Tail from Apep. You don't have much of a tail but we'll make it work, okay?"

Apep hissed threateningly, and Ash leveled him a thoroughly unimpressed look. "Apep, I don't care that he beat you and your pride is hurt. Tutor moves are hard enough as it is, and if you refuse I'm using the first TM on Ro instead of you."

The snake growled before turning away from him too. Ash sighed before wrapping his arms around Apep's midsection, picking him up despite the angry hisses. He wrapped the pokemon around him, resting his head on his shoulder.

Ro just peered almost curiously at them before sighing and turning back to look around the clearing. Ash fixed his gaze on him, thinking back to his plan. He would be training much like Apep had while walking, and then when they stopped for the night he would look up how to train him with Double Kick.

"Okay Ro, you're going to be running beside me. And I mean running. If you get too far ahead then you can stop and wait for me to catch up, but I want to increase your endurance and speed. It's going to really be exhausting but I have oran berries I can heal you up with when you get too tired."

The nidoran looked almost frightened.

Ash knew Apep, and the snake was fast. But he didn't' have a lot of endurance, as in the wild he mainly slept and then came out at night to hunt and occasionally defend himself. This kingsize nidoran wouldn't have even had to run away with his bulk, and so probably had no endurance at all. So this exercise would be perfect for him. He would allow Apep at least one hour of relaxing and letting his ego reinflate.

But then he would be working out again as well, and when training came later, they would not enjoy anything of the sort.

He almost smiled as he pictured Apep's furious face.

But the pokemon would train, he knew that. Apep would _not_ just _let_ Ro have won the last battle. He wanted to win the next.

And the next.

And the next.

With that, he slung his bag back on, readjusted Apep, and then marched back toward the path. Ro trotted beside him, barely pushing himself far enough to be called running, but Ash allowed it. He knew that the pokemon would try harder later, but for the beginning stages this was just fine.

They walked on and on, and Ash eventually unwound Apep from his body and set him down. The snake instantly snapped forward with a twirl of his tail and stayed steadily ahead of everyone, even when he started panting. Ash just rolled his eyes and fed him and Ro an oran berry.

Ro wasn't doing so good. After the first hour of slow trotting, he had ground his way down to a fast walk, and even now was struggling. He loathed to slow his pace and possibly make them later to Pewter City, but his nidoran needed to become stronger, so he let his stride shrink until it matched Ro's.

They didn't find any trainers, which was strange. But they were now solidly in the heart of the forest, and bug trainers mainly hugged the edges for beginner trainers.

The nidoran was still exhausted when he finally stopped them that night. It was earlier than normal, and Apep wasn't even that tired. But the snake, after eating his berries and food, went immediately to find a rock to practice his move on. His tail gleamed silver as he slammed it down.

Ro just peered around, flat against the ground. He didn't even move after Ash healed his exhaustion, just grumbling softly as he sucked in deep breaths. Ash sighed and gave him some more oran berries and a little more food, and the pokemon devoured it quickly. His increased metabolism might be slightly difficult to work with.

But that was fine, because a second pokemon!

Gary wouldn't be able to beat Apep now, and with Ro as well, his team - no matter what they were - stood no chance. He couldn't wait until they met again, and secretly prayed the boy was in Pewter.

But now, to focus on training his pokemon to survive the next gym. Both of them had the disadvantage, but not for much longer.

"Okay! Ro. Here's how we're going to learn Double Kick, okay?" He sat on the ground, thinking to himself. Ro was kingsize, so he had longer legs, but he was almost much bulkier. So what he had to do was get him to never actually jump like Double Kick sometimes made pokemon. "I'll find you something. Follow me?"

The nidoran did, trotting after him, fully rested and healed. Ash eventually found a thick enough tree he wasn't too worried about hurting. "So turn around, please."

Ro did so, looking thoroughly confused. He shook himself once, the edges of his poison barbs glinting in the light. Ash danced back one step, heading toward Ro's head. "You just need to kick the tree, okay? It sounds kind of pointless, but this move is a lot like Iron Tail. First thing you need to do is learn the basic movement for the attack before we try to start putting in fighting type energy. Eventually, you'll kick with one foot and than the other for even more damage, which is just even more powerful!"

He gave his trainer an almost worried look before one hind leg and hesitantly kicking the tree. It didn't do much but the nidoran recoiled from the hard surface, eyes narrowing. His barbs stretched out farther, a single bead of poison dripping from his horn. He kicked it again, this time much harder.

Ash grinned. Another pokemon that was willing to train. Apep was already whaling away on the rock and his tail glinted silver ever four out of five times. He hurried over to pull out a potion for both his pokemon, just in case. The moves didn't cause much recoil when used properly, but everytime they didn't harness the proper energy, it could hurt them.

But the training continued nicely. Ro, at his prompting, switched feet halfway through. He hadn't even begun to harness the energy but his kicks were stronger and more uniform, putting more of his body mass into every kick. The tree had lost a third of its leaves and had started to tremble when Ro kicked it.

Apep had split the rock down the middle only an hour in. He was panting and there was a slight bruise on his tail, but Ash had healed that as fast as he could and praised Apep as much as possible. The snake was extremely smug, preening and demanding two more berries to munch on.

But he had deserved it. His Iron Tail was now definitely strong enough to take down at least one of Brock's pokemon, and he had let Apep rest for a bit while he thought about a strategy.

Ro could probably take down Brock's geodude, though he'd struggle. Double Kick would be useful once he mastered it, and Ash was praying that he could before they left the forest. He doubted that Brock would bring out either his golem or his rhyhorn for a trainer that didn't even have one badge, so that left the geodude and onix.

Apep would get the onix, as he was much faster and could dodge better and use Iron Tail to hit and run. Double Kick took just a little longer and that could end the battle.

So he pulled out his pokedex and scanned through Apep's page. It was time to fulfill his promise - he would be learning Acid now.

"Apep? Can you come here?"

The snake looked up from where he had been curled up in the middle of the clearing, scales sucking in the last rays of the sinking sun. He loved heat almost as much as he loved battling.

Ash stroked his head, a pleased rumble following. He held up his pokedex, angling the screen so Apep could see it.

"We're going to be learning Acid, the move I promised you. Remember the other ekans we battled? It used Acid Spray, which is just more poison in a larger spray. But do you remember what it looked like?"

Apep nodded. Bright orange and bubbling, much hotter than the hardened Poison Stings he used.

"Acid uses warmed up poison but is pretty much like Poison Sting. This move should poison other pokemon easier, so I hope we can learn this and maybe even start on Acid Spray before the gym battle, do you think you can do that?" He tilted his head to the side, staring at Apep's brilliant yellow eyes.

The snake nodded excitedly, hissing softly. His tail rattled against the ground, still dry and soft. He wasn't close to evolving yet, but that was fine. Apep hadn't had very many difficult battles that really challenged him, with his powerful moves. But he bet that the gym battle up and coming would definitely boost his experience up to the point he would find it easier to learn moves.

He was kind of hoping that Apep would evolve in a battle. It made the transition easier for him, as pokemon that hung on the edge of evolution often were off balance and struggled with their form. Everstones made that easier, but they were dropdead expensive unless you could find them in the wild.

But that wasn't happening.

"So here's what we're going to do. Just use Poison Sting on that rock, okay? Try to avoid using it on the ground because you'll poison the plants. But try to hold it in your chest and mouth before you fire it so you can warm it up. It will take a while to actually heat it to the point we want to be at, but if you can make the poison not hardened, that would be the best thing we can do tonight."

Apep blinked, but nodded.

He slithered over to the rock, eyeing the scattered shards he had destroyed with his Iron Tail.

Poking at one with his snout, he pushed them closer together for a more stable platform for his poison. Ash grinned and watched him as Apep carefully tended to his little rock pile, even dragging over two smaller ones to complete it. It was almost cute as he nosed that last piece into place with his snout.

But then he turned his attention back to Ro, who was tiring again. He was still kicking strong, but he was panting hard and his ears were drooped down to fall close to his face, which was quite impressive. He sighed and stepped forward, touching the top of Ro's head, avoiding the barbs.

"Take a break, bud. I don't want to get you too exhausted on the first day. We'll pick things up tomorrow."

The nidoran shot him a grateful look before flopping down onto the ground without even a squeak of protest. Ash sighed but smiled, stroking a line from his head to his tail, running his fingers over the ridges on his spines. They were strange but not harmful in the slightest. Just a curious little thing.

Apep finally coughed out his first Poison Sting, and Ashh wandered over to see it. The poison was only partially hardened and the rest was a purple mess, but it was contained by the rocks. He patted Apep on the head, the snake thrumming under his touch. "Keep it up. Then we get to work on Acid."

He set up camp in the middle of the small clearing with the sound of Apep still spitting venom in the corner. His bed roll was out and the snake only paused to swallow his food whole. Ash would have preferred to bring more food, but it was tiring enough to carry his bag, even more so whenever he decided to let Apep hitch a ride. For shorter paths he'd be able to give out more a day. Ro was already draining supplies.

He shuddered to think what a kingsize snorlax would eat. In a week, he bet it could and would swallow the entire Celadon City store.

There were more than a few reasons why people avoided snorlax, even as trainers with ultra balls.

But the sun disappeared from the sky and he called them all back to sleep. Ro snorted at the pokeball and instead curled up at his feet, horn pointed away. His slightly claws feet dug into the ground as he settled himself. Probably an instinct so that he could be ready to run and fight in the blink of an eye in the wild.

Ash found it brilliant. When he did - and he would - teached Ro Focus Energy, it would be perfect for Ro to be able to cut off the move early and sprint out of there if an attack too fast. He'd have to come up with a name for it, but it was a clever little thing he wouldn't have thought of within Ro.

He understood why people bought pokemon, but they didn't get any of the instincts wild pokemon had. They were brilliant.

Apep spat out the last of his poison. He was making brilliant progress, every time spitting out raw poison that was warming up with every shot. Ash guessed he'd get it fully melted ather quickly, but he seriously didn't know about raising the toxicity.

The snake coiled up next to Ash, curling his head over his chest. His scales were warm and comforting, and Ash fell asleep easily next to his two pokemon.

The next morning dawned bright and early, and he shot to his feet. They had lost progress with Ro's slow movement speed, but he didn't hold it against the pokemon. By the end of the week, he might be able to inch his way back up to the pace he had had before. Apep was already getting stronger and while Ro was already slow by being both a nidoran and kingsize, any pokemon could overcome that and one named Royal would have no problems.

He hoped.

But they were barely awake and stumbling down the path when someone pointed a sword directly at his throat.

Ash froze. Ro froze. Apep moved.

In an instant he had shot forward and pushed off the ground, snapping through the air to land on the hilt of the sword. The person yelped and bucked his arm but Apep flashed once and used Wrap, fangs open and glinting purple with Poison Fang.

Ash blinked.

His pokemon had stopped the sword, as the person couldn't really move their arm both with Apep's weight and the move Wrap, and could be injured easily with Poison Fang. Ro snapped to attention, horn glowing a faint white.

"Stop!" Ash barked, both pokemon stilling though they didn't move. That would be the best he got, and so he turned his attention to the sword swinging maniac. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Are you from Pallet Town?" The boy said almost meekly, staring dead in the eyes of the furious Apep. The snake hissed, the sound promising pain if he attempted to attack with his sword.

"Yes!"

The boy brightened, looking past Apep. "Then I challenge you to a battle! My name is Samurai and I have been defeated twice by those from Pallet Town and I will not be again!"

"But you held a sword to my throat!" Ash clenched his fists, and he could see his anger starting to get to his pokemon. Apep was coiling slightly tighter, fangs out, and Ro's barbs were fully extended with a bead of poison dripping from his horn. He wasn't going to call them off until this idiot explained himself.

"In honor of my namesakes, that is how we challenge for a battle."

This kid - Samurai - saw nothing wrong with how he had acted.

Oh, he was destroying this guy's pokemon and nothing could stop him. "Fine," he bit out, before letting out a soft trill like whistle.

He hadn't practiced it at all, just something he had thought of while he had been waking up. But Apep reacted instantly, turning back toward him. He made the sound again, trying to mimic Apep's happy hiss-trill as best he could.

The snake uncoiled from Samurai's arm and slithered toward him, coiling up at his feet. He hissed as Samurai rubbed his arm, sword slipping into a sheath by his side. The ekans did not look like he would be giving the kid's pokemon even a chance to survive the starting match.

"One on one," Samurai said, eyes narrowing. He looked far too happy and smug, even though he had been beaten by both Leaf and Gary. And that also meant that both of them were beating him on their journey so far.

If he was lucky, he could still catch at least one in Pewter. But to do that, he had to cream this punk.

"Agreed. Apep, get out there."

Ro gave him a thoroughly disgruntled look but stepped back, drawing attention to himself for the first time. Samurai squined at the nidoran, eyes flicking over his stature. "You have a kingsize?"

Ash nodded, running through strategies.

"Well, battle me with him instead of your ekans!"

He raised an eyebrow, staring down at his starter. Apep looked absolutely furious at the mere suggestion that Ro might be stronger than him, never mind the fact he had been beaten the day before. He hissed with the fury of Arceus himself and glared at Ash before he even began to open his mouth.

Ash chuckled. "No, I believe you will find my ekans will be enough of a difficult battle for you."

The kid snorted. "Fine. Go, Pinsir!"

He lobbed a pokeball and the bug type pokemon appeared, hissing and clicking its pincers together. It didn't look that big and while it was obviously well cared for, the lack of hardened spikes around its pincers showed an inexperienced battler. He had done basic research about the more dangerous bug types during training sessions and knew that if the pinsir was well battled its spikes would be dangerously sharp and clean, but these were dull and too large, not rubbed down. It should only know the basic moves, which would do normal damage to Apep.

But only if he let it happen.

"The battle shall be between me, Samurai and-"

"Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town," he finished, eyes narrowed.

The kid frowned. "Begin!"

"Poison Sting!" He barked, walking several steps back. Pinsir looked big and he didn't want to get in its way.

Apep reared back, looking quite small in the presence of Pinsir. He spat out several thin streams of poison, but Ash winced when he saw that they weren't completely hardened. The move was a mix between Poison Sting and Acid, and that weakened it. There was a problem with teaching a pokemon a move based on another, as they could often get mixed up. He would have to devote more time to separating them.

But they flew true and splattered against Pinsir, a bead dripping onto the ground. It flinched back but stayed strong. Ash growled. They would have to work on upping the amount of poison in Apep's attacks if they wanted to poison the enemy on the first go.

"Pinsir! Use Vice Grip!"

The bug spat out an angry sound and stomped forward, pincers clicking threatening above its head. Ash narrowed his eyes. It was fast but Apep was much, much faster.

"Get in close, but don't lift your head above the ground. If it attacks with its pincers, go between its legs. Use Poison Fang when you can!"

It was when he stopped that he realized he had just announced his whole plan to Samurai. He would have to work on that, too.

Apep lowered himself to the ground, yellow eyes fixed upward. Pinsir reached out but he twisted out of its claws and shot between its legs, rearing up on the other side. Snapping forward, he punched his fangs through Pinsir's shell.

The bug gave a loud shriek and tried to turn around, but Apep picked his tail off the ground and slid it around Pinsir's midsection, tightening it even as his fangs flickered purple. Pinsir roared as the venom pumped through his veins and yet could barely move through Wrap, falling down onto one knee.

Apep reared back to strike again just as Samurai shouted out instructions. "Grab it and use Seismic Toss!"

The ekans couldn't even react before Pinsir shook itself, knocking the worse of Wrap off and managing to grab Apep's torso. He gave a panicked hiss as Pinsir ripped him off, crouched, and then flung him sky high.

"Iron Tail him into the ground!"

Apep stopped writhing and angled himself better, curling his tail inward. It thrummed with a deep silver light, and through a burst of instinct, Apep flipped under himself and slammed his tail onto Pinsir's head.

The bug gave a hiss of pain before falling over, eyes dark. It thudded against the ground hard enough to make the earth shake.

Ash lunged forward and managed to throw his arms out to catch Apep on the last few feet before he struck the ground. The snake nearly slammed him into the ground as well but he fell to his knees and managed to hold on. Apep happily trilled up at him, barely injured in the slightest.

Samurai was still for one second before pulling out his pokeball, recalling Pinsir in a flash of silver light. His face darkened in anger. "Another battle! I have more pokemon!"

Ash grinned before stand back up, letting Apep coil around him. The ekans hissed at Samurai, fangs tinted a dark purple. "Ro, you're up."

The nidoran let out a low bellow and plodded forward, sitting down in front of Ash. His brilliant red eyes narrowed as each and every single one of his barbs extended, leaking clear poison.

Samurai took a step back.

"If you ever come back again, I will defeat you! I'll train harder until your ekans falls while my pinsir doesn't receive a scratch!"

He grinned wider. "Looking forward to it."

Samurai scowled harder before reattaching his pokeball to his belt and reaching into his pocket. With an angered expression, he shoved a wad of cash into Ash's hand before walking toward the trees, disappearing into their midst. There were sounds of him pushing through the branches before even that faded away.

Ash waited one more second before jumping into the air, pumping his fists. "Yeah! Apep! You took down a pinsir!"

The ekans trilled happily, rattling his tail. Ro snorted once but he seemed happy as well, settling into a more comfortable position.

He pried apart the money in his hand, eyes flicking over the bills. Twenty… forty… sixty… one hundred dollars!

The kid's pinsir must have been winning him all sorts of money around Viridian Forest for him to hand out that much. It was insane, and they were so much closer to getting two reusable TMs in the next city.

Ash grinned at both of his pokemon, gently petting Ro's head while he stroked down Apep's scales. They were going to take Brock's pokemon by storm, no matter the type advantage.

"So! We've got some more traveling to do, okay?"

Ro glared at him.

They kept moving, battling every trainer he came in contact with except for one. There was an older boy, one nearly four inches taller than Ash. He was most definitely not a bug trainer, as shown by the six pokeballs casually clipped to his belt. One was even an ultra ball.

Ash gave him a wide berth as they crossed each other on the path.

But the cash in his bag ever increased, and he only grew more and more happy. And when it was time to stop for the day, he was practically bursting. By the time they made it to Pewter, they would be over two thirds of the way to another reusable TM.

He sent Apep instantly to work on his Acid, but called Ro over. The nidoran lumbered over, still not nearly as fast as Apep but much faster than he had been.

"Can you use Toxic Spikes? I want to check something."

Ro blinked once before shooing Ash away with his horn, which he did so quickly. Then he violently shook himself, each barb on his skin extending fully. He froze for a second, concentrating, before he raised his head and spat out dozens of globs of poison.

They hardened the second they left his mouth, clattering all around him and thudding against the ground. One landed on his back, and he grumbled and shook it off, before looking around the clearing.

It was quite impressive. At least two to three dozen little spikes of toxic poison were dotted around, rather close together. If Ro did that multiple times, it would be impossible for any pokemon to avoid them unless they could fly.

"Perfect. Go back to Double Kick, please."

Ro snorted once before heading toward the closest tree, nosing one spike out of his way. Ash suddenly blanched as he tried to find a spot for his bed roll. He prayed that they would all fade away quickly.

He found a small stump on the opposite side and sat down, thinking. In the battle with Samurai, he had said his entire plan out loud and gave his opponent plenty of time to prepare for it. Sure, the boy hadn't acted on it, but even a slightly more experienced trainer would, and that could mean the end of the battle.

And then he remembered the whistle.

When he was a boy, him and Gary would hang around Professor Oak for days as he told them stories of his time as a trainer, talking about amazing battles that he had fought. There had been one who nearly beat him that had given only basic commands, such as 'get close' 'jump and strike' or 'dodge and run'. The pokemon had done the rest, adding in moves and doing the basic patterns.

Apep was a predator pokemon, and he had at least moderately good hearing because of it, though as a snake it was still rather poor. People could still come up with strategies if he told them where Apep was going to run and dodge, but how do you try and beat a person who only whistles?

Although that was scratched pretty quickly as well. There was no way he could memorize Apep's entire move pool in just whistles as well as any other pokemon. Maybe only two - a close attack and a ranged one. Enough wiggle room for Apep to do what he wanted yet also letting him go for the attack.

Because he was quickly realizing that Apep was a wild pokemon as much as he was a trainer's one. Wild pokemon put their all into avoiding every attack no matter what because injured meant death in the wild, even if the move would barely scratch them. If he could teach Apep to tank moves then it would only be better for them both.

And he would also be able to give whistled commands to Ro, because his enormous ears definitely meant something. But not at this point. Right now he just wanted to work on Ro learning basic battling without adding in even more things to worry about. But Apep?

He thought harder.

Mimicking Apep's pidgey sound could tell him to bite. When he evolved he could learn more elemental bites, so they'd have to switch that up later but for right now, a trilling whistle could mean get in close and use Poison Fang. A high, shrill whistle could mean Poison Sting, though that would quickly change to Acid and Acid Spray once he learned them.

Hesitantly, he tried them out loud. He could manage the trill pretty well, though it was hard to keep up for longer times. The whistle was much easier.

When he looked up, he saw Apep and Ro staring at him like he was absolutely crazy.

"Heh. Ro, please go back to training. Sorry. Apep, could you come here?"

The ekans slithered closer, confusion laced through his eyes. His tail rattled softly against the ground.

Ash got down on his hands and knees, staring his pokemon in the eyes. "Okay. So when I tell you what to do, the other trainers hear that too, and they come up with ways to defeat you. So I've got an idea."

He trilled, and Apep snapped to attention, head raised. Ash barely bit back laughter, sucking it down and hiding it as a cough.

Apep glared at him.

"Okay, okay. That was mean. But that sound means I want you to get in close and use Poison Fang. See that tree?" He pointed towards one only a little away. Apep nodded.

He trilled as loudly as he could.

Apep paused before shooting forward, gliding over one toxic spike like it was nothing. He reared up and made to bite at the tree, fangs glinting purple, but couldn't actually fit his mouth around it.

Ash wasn't able to hide his laughter this time, and Apep slithered back rather disgruntled.

"No, that was perfect! See, the other pokemon won't be able to tell what you're doing, and you can just attack them perfectly! But this sound-" he whistled sharply "-means go away and use Poison Sting, okay?"

The ekans stared at him unblinkingly.

"Let's try it." He pointed to a thick branch on the ground, something Apep would actually be able to bite.

Ash trilled. Apep shot forward and bit the stick.

He whistled. Apep came back and snapped Poison Stings at it.

Sometimes he did two of one and got an annoyed glare from Apep but the snake did them all, and at the end of the practice, he trilled and whistled back to Ash, rattling his tail happily.

Ro barely glanced up after but he did watch Ash and Apep, listening to the trills and whistles and carefully watching which attack Apep performed. He seemed curious, head tilted to the side.

But then the sun sank below the horizon, and Ash had Apep practice a little more on Acid. The spray was unhardened but still the same dark purple, which wasn't very poisonous. He hadn't had much time to look up ways to make Apep's attacks more likely to poison but planned for tomorrow. They fell asleep, most of the toxic spikes having melted into the ground. But plants and trees had to be hardly in a world where every animal could use such devastating attacks, and he had no doubt that within a few days the toxins would be completely gone and disposed of.

Apep had forsaken lying next to him and instead flopped directly over his chest. Ro pressed his back against Ash's feet, barbs carefully locked away. They were both warm and comforting, and he fell asleep faster than ever before.

But the next day dawned bright and early and Ash actually woke up before his pokedex alarm, shutting it off and shoving his pokemon awake. He was still a bit cautious touching his poison types and resolutely shoved around three hundred dollars of the money his mother had gave him into a separate pocket. When he got to Pewter City he'd head right to the Pokemon Center and get another antidote injection. Every trainer had the basic shots but for those with poison type pokemon it was suggested they get the second round for more protection, and he didn't want to be accidently poisoned because Ro spooked in the night and let a barb come out against his feet.

It was a pain, but that was fine. His mother had given him two thousand dollars and made him promise not to spend any of it on pokemon supplies, just for him. He had agreed to and this would be the first time he had other than food for himself.

But then, only an hour into his travels, he stumbled across his first trainer. A girl with a kakuna and two caterpie. He had only brought Apep out, keeping Ro back. The nidoran would battle later, but he wanted to test out their new strategy.

It was rusty and not perfected at all. Apep was an unfortunate mix between waiting for instructions and firing off on his own, but the pokemon they were versing were low experience so it didn't matter too much. He thoroughly enjoyed the shocked look on her face when all he did was trill and whistle, and it only got better when Apep lunged forward or back to attack. She numbly handed over a small amount of money and he strolled on his day, both him and Apep much too smug.

He let Apep ride with him, feeding Ro a few more oran berries to curb his exhaustion. Ash talked strategies to Apep for nearly an hour, bringing up how Apep should dodge first and attack later unless he told him not to. It was important that Ash told him certain moves and only used the trills and whistles for Poison Fang and Poison Sting.

Apep mainly seemed confused through it all but the next battle against a beedrill went marginally better than the last one had been.

Ash couldn't wait until he found Gary again with his squirtle, though he reasoned by the time they battled again it might even be a wartortle. But he hadn't heard of many nonverbal trainers, even if he only used it for two moves.

Leaf and Gary didn't stand a chance if he eventually taught it to all of his pokemon, although two on two battles would be a problem.

The day went by quickly, and the number of trainers was still low. Ro finally perfected the basic movements of the kick and was now trying to kick one after the other. Once he mastered that, Ash would just have him increase the strength and speed of his kick until he managed to harness the fighting type energy.

Apep's Acid had finally started to bubble, but it was nowhere near the toxicity that turned it orange. He was still on a loss on how to teach him that so instead had him practice Poison Sting and Iron Tail all the more, slipping in Poison Fang every now and then to perfect his move set for the next battle.

The gym battle.

They only had two more days left when Ro finally perfected Double Kick. His fighting type energy wasn't the strongest but his feet glowed when he kicked, and it only would get stronger every time he used it. Ash finally had him start to use it in battle and wasn't disappointed. It took him awhile to turn around and get into position, but the kick blasted the opponents back far enough to let him use Peck or Horn Attack. It was a brilliant strategy that both of them enjoyed.

Apep, of course, wouldn't accept that and threw himself into mastering the trills and whistles. He dodged most attacks and attacked after, and now only trained pokemon could stand up to him. Wild pokemon that they challenged usually fell after one or two moves, more if they were part poison type.

It was the last day and the number of trainers had increased so much that Ash was turning down a few battles to let his pokemon rest. They definitely deserved it and he was almost out of oran berries, though he didn't tell them as to avoid a riot. He kept his eyes peeled but wasn't able to spot any on the path, and resigned himself to having to buy a bunch at the Pokemon Center. At least they were often cheap.

But it was around midday that the last of the trees fell away behind them and they were treated to the sight of Pewter City, nestled in a sort of dip between hills. Ash had never been more glad to see civilization, although Ro hissed at it.

He probably hadn't seen any cities before, and Ash looked between him and Pewter. Ro was nearly dead on his feet, anyway.

"Hey buddy, I'm going to recall you until we get to the Pokemon Center, okay?" The nidoran looked sharply up at him, and he raised his hands peacefully. "None of that. I just don't want you getting overwhelmed with all of these people and you look tired enough as it is. When you come back out you'll be fully rested and ready to fight, okay?"

Ro sighed before nodding once. Ash pressed the button and his pokemon disappeared in a burst of scarlet light, and he clicked the pokeball back to his belt.

Apep positively preened at being left out. Ash flicked his snout. "I'm putting you back in as well so Nurse Joy can heal you up, and nothing you say will make me not."

The ekans hissed once before shooting up his leg, coiling around his body. He weakly tried to push him off but Apep was staying put.

Ash sighed. "Fine. But no misbehaving, you hear me?"

Apep rattled once.

He walked the half a mile until town, running into many more trainers. Most were still bug trainers, running back and forth from the Pokemon Center, but a few were actual trainers with starters or flying types huddled around them. No one glanced twice at him heading inside the town limits.

The Pokemon Center was rather close, and he didn't have to go far until he reached its walls. The orange pokeball emblazoned on the front door was a dead giveaway, and he quickly pushed open the door and went inside.

It was full of around half a dozen trainers idly walking around while their pokemon were healing. Some chatted with each other, all of varying ages. There was even one at least fourteen year old reading from a slim paperback in the very farthest corner of the common, hat pulled low over her eyes.

He trotted toward Nurse Joy, still manning the counter. She smiled as he approached, pink hair bouncing. "Hello! Welcome to the Pokemon Center. How may I help you?"

"My pokemon are just tired, I think. They may have a few bruises I missed." Ignoring Apep's angry hiss, he recalled him and handed both pokeballs over. "I'd also like to get the secondary poison antidote treatment?"

She nodded, accepting the pokeballs. "That'll be three hundred dollars, please."

He dug in his pocket and grabbed the cash, counting it quickly and handing it over. She took it and then walked toward a room in the back, a large white one with a small window in the top. He trotted over after she waved for him to follow her.

Nurse Joy set his pokeballs on a thin chute that shot them off to a room somewhere else in the building, probably to where either her chansey or an assistant was getting them loaded into healing machines. They were ridiculously expensive and only supplied by the League, so people had to pay to use them at the Pokemon Center unless they were a trainer.

Hey, they had to make money somehow.

She pushed open the door, one that led to a small examination room. It was crisp and white with a few machines on a desk and a bed with two chairs. He, at her command, sat on the white bed and tried not to stare too openly at the needle sitting on the desk

"Now, you've already received your first mandatory antidote shot, right?" He nodded. "Then this is merely an upped dosage. After I administer it, please wait here for another ten minutes for it to settle in your body, then you should be fine. May I have your pokedex to confirm everything?"

He handed it over, and she plugged it into a computer and quickly read over it before adding several things to his profile. Then she pulled out a shot, grabbed his arm, and had already injected it before he could blink. She left the room a second later.

It was the longest ten minutes of his life. He didn't have his pokemon, didn't have his pokedex to look up random facts or funny eevee videos, and didn't even have anyone to talk to. When Nurse Joy came back in to tell him that he was fine and his pokemon should be properly rested in only five minutes, he thanked her before grabbing his pokedex and requesting a room.

Second floor, room 3. He slipped the key into his backpack and sat on one of the couches to wait.

He pulled up all knowledge about Brock's pokemon that he could. They weren't allowed to release moves or strategies so instead he looked up onix and geodude, reading over their full descriptions and movesets.

The longer he read, the more he wanted an onix. They sounded like tanks that could just pretty much flick their opponent and win. He prayed that Brock's onix was relatively low in experience.

But then his pokemon were done and healed up, so he headed to the phones in the back of the Pokemon Center. One was open and he let it scan his pokedex, the free setting popping up.

His mom picked up on the first three rings. "Ash?"

He grinned widely. "Mom!"

"Oh! You made it to Pewter City! I'm so proud!" She smiles back, white teeth shining. Delia was wonderful to see after two weeks with nothing but his pokemon and strangers. He wished he could hug her through the screen. "Did you catch any new pokemon?"

"Yeah! Let me just bring him out."

He stepped away from the screen, pulling out Ro's pokeball. Aiming it at the chair, he let him free.

The nidoran yawned upon being released, looking around curiously. He peered at Delia, red eyes focused on her face.

She cooed at him, stepping closer. "A nidoran! They're a hardy breed. You seem to be going on the poison type route, Ashy."

He blushed. "I know. But he's awesome! He actually defeated Apep and I only captured him by throwing a pokeball twice."

Delia frowned, staring at him more intently. "Ash, I don't think they're supposed to be that big. Is he-"

"Yep, he's kingsize. Believe me, he's been draining my food supplies like no one's business."

She nodded, smiling. "And he doesn't even have the type advantage," she teased. "What's his name?"

"Ro. From Royal. You know, because he evolves into nidoking and he's kingsize and it just made sense." He blushed, cutting off his rambling. She looked like she was biting down laughter.

"Apep's doing good, then?"

He nodded.

She yawned, hands stretching up and out of sight. "Well, I've got to go back and help Professor Oak. You call me either after your gym battle or when you're in Cerulean, okay? No exceptions."

Ash smiled back at her. "I will, Mom."

"I know. Love you, Ashy."

And then the screen clicked black.

Ro looked up at him, head tilted. "That was my mom, Delia. She lives back in Pallet Town, but we'll visit her soon. Maybe when I can get someone with a powerful psychic type to teleport us there and back. But back to your pokeball, bud. I'll bring you out once we get up to my room."

He disappeared without protest and Ash shut off the phone, pulling his key out. He'd call Professor Oak later, maybe tomorrow, but right now he just wanted to go up to his room and talk with his pokemon about tomorrow.

Their first gym battle.

Ash skipped up the stairs and found his room quickly. It was nicely sized, and there were two perches on the wall and room for small to medium sized aquariums that could be brought in. He had gotten poison type blankets, and there were also fire resistant types as well as pokemon beds that could be rented.

He released both of his pokemon. They both blinked and looked around, although Apep immediately shot over to the bed and sank onto the warm covers. Ash laughed and sat next to him, pulling out his pokedex. Ro trotted closer to listen, head tilted to the side.

"Okay." He grinned. "Here's our strategy for tomorrow…"

* * *

Ash sucked in a deep breath, wiping his sweaty hands on his trousers. He had never been more nervous before in his life, even on the day before he was supposed to get his starter.

Before, it had all been about finding a pokemon to travel and battle with. He hadn't known anything about the pokemon's personalities, about their quirks, about their strategies. But now he knew Apep, and he was well on his way to learning Ro, and he was about to send them into the hardest battle of their current lives.

Poison types were at such a disadvantage in this gym. Every move the geodude or onix used would be doubly effective against both Apep and Ro, and only one of his pokemon he trusted was fast enough to dodge at least most moves.

And that was if Brock didn't use Rock Polish too often.

Oh, if he won this battle, he would be praying to every single legendary pokemon he could think of.

He was in his room at the Pokemon Center, pacing back and forth with a kind of jump in his step that wasn't born from excitement. His nerves were so tightly coiled around his bones that he could have matched a fearow for height.

Apep and Ro were downstairs, getting one last checkover from Nurse Joy. He had ran down right after he woke up, stunned quiet with sheer worry. She had smiled gently at him and accepted the pokeballs, though she most definitely knew he hadn't done any sort of training with them. She seemed to understand the nervous energy flitting through his bones. He guessed she had to deal with it a lot. Brock wasn't a beginner gym leader, despite being rather young. He had monsters capable of beating trainers with seven or more badges, and those were only the ones he had heard of. Gym leaders were notoriously both open about their tactics and secretive about their pokemon. It wouldn't do to give a trainer a badge you thought they deserved only to realize they only made their strategy for your pokemon and their moves. Things like that could get their pokemon severely wounded later in the League.

But Brock was also more understanding than other gym leaders like Giovanni. He had weaker pokemon he didn't train except in gym battles or very minimally and could support the basic zero-badge trainers, helping them to stand and gain confidence. He was known for being easy to call if trainers had recently captured rock-types and had no idea what to do with them, and it was hard to dislike the man. Ash hadn't even met him yet but he was already excited to. Brock had a reputation that couldn't have been gained without hundreds of positive encounters with trainers, and people from all over Kanto and even other regions tried to come to him for their first badge.

The perfect first gym to challenge, and he was readily accepting the challenge it would be.

(He might also be lying to himself by sending out two severely disadvantaged pokemon)

But the clock struck nine am and that was the time the gym opened, so he carefully set his bag back on his bed, though he had two potions in his pockets if his pokemon got too injured. Sure, the Pokemon Center was close, but he didn't want his pokemon to be in too much pain. The stasis that their pokeballs provided would stop them from feeling anything, but if he wanted to congratulate them right after, he could keep them from feeling too terrible with overall movements.

There was always the thought that he was wasting his few enough as it is potions on battles not ten minutes from the Pokecenter, but it was fine.

He pushed open the door and trotted down the stairs, eyes concentrated forward. Light shined through the glass dome, lighting up everything inside. He raised a casual hand in greeting to the other trainers walking next to him, emerging slowly from rooms and heading toward the food court. Some did it back to him, though others were bleary-eyed and probably wouldn't have reacted if a gyarados shot a Hyper Beam straight at their face.

Ash could relate.

He reached the bottom and hurried over to Nurse Joy, who raised an eyebrow at his approach. She withdrew two pokeballs from a shelf under her desk and handed them over, a smile flitting on her face.

"Good luck, Ash. Brock may seem hard to handle but I believe in you!" Her voice was warm and comforting, and he couldn't stop himself from grinning back.

"Thanks, Nurse Joy. I'll tell you as soon as I win!"

She twittered gently before shooing him toward the door, her chansey chirping out brightly at his retreating back.

Nurse Joys were a gift to the world, he decided.

But then he was walking through town, keeping his eyes peeled. He hadn't ever actually seen the outside of a gym before, only seen insides from famous battles Professor Oak had recorded. Surely they wouldn't have it too far from the Pokemon Center?

He had to give in eventually and ask a woman trotting around with an enormous eevee at her heels. She raised her sunglasses, cooed over his absolutely tiny height, and pointed to the very tip of a slate grey building, barely visible over the top of other buildings. He thanked her before skipping off in the direction, adrenaline pushing him faster and faster still.

The building didn't look that impressive, though that didn't mean much. The edges were styled in some sort of twisting fashion that matched the old appearance of the town, and its foundation was piled high with crumbled stacks of stone.

Okay. He sucked in a deep breath. Ash knew he had a plan, one that, while simple, would use their most powerful attacks and then cream Brock and his pokemon. Geodude for Ro, onix for Apep. Geodude for Ro, onix for Apep. Geodude-

He raised his hand and knocked before he could lose his nerve.

There was a pause before the door swung open, showing a dark interior. He hung around awkwardly before walking inside, the door swinging shut robotically behind him. Electronic.

He was in a short hallway, but walking forward quickly emptied him out into an enormous stadium, one that stretched sky high. The walls were an inviting brown and the floor was made of heavily packed dirt studded with stones. Some were barely the size of his fist while others could compete with snorlax for girth. Perfect for rock types.

Stands encircled the entire thing, but all were empty. First thing in the morning and with a trainer that hadn't even earned a badge yet?

But there was someone there - a teenager with dark skin, fitted with a green vest and brown pants. He stood up, almost unfurling from a strange meditative position to his full height. His eyes almost seemed to stay closed, but his smile was inviting.

"Hello! Are you here to challenge the Pewter City gym?" His voice was both warm and gruff, strange but relaxing.

Ash shuffled forward. "Yes." His voice bounced around the entire room and he blushed, though the other person didn't seem fazed.

"My name is Brock, and defeating me will earn you the Boulder Badge. How many badges do you have?"

"You'll be my first," he admitted, stepping forward more. He was in an alcove with a set of stairs leading down to a battling platform, but he didn't start his descent yet.

Brock nodded, like he had expected that. "And how many pokemon have you captured so far?"

Ash blinked. He didn't remember that on any gym battles he had seen before, though they were from high-end trainers and TV shows, and he already knew that they weren't very realistic. "I have my starter and then I captured another."

The gym leader nodded, turning to head back toward a wall. He pressed a series of buttons, fingers flying, before two pokeballs emerged from hidden cavities on the wall, and he could see four other pockets next to those. He grabbed them both before heading to his battle platform, prompting Ash to do the same.

A referee emerged from somewhere, yawning gently. She trotted down to her stand, clearing her throat on the way.

"What's your name, challenger?" Brock said, voice still calm and collected no matter how it bounced across the room. He seemed very confident of himself, casually leaning against the railing and setting both pokeballs on his stand. His posture filled the room despite its enormous size, and there wasn't any sort of quaver or shake in his voice. People knew that he didn't desire to be a gym leader and was biding his time until he could achieve his dream of being a breeder, it had made big news when he admitted it to the public. There had even been rumors of a sort-of bounty hunt for his father, but the man was never found. For the time being, however, Brock seemed to have sunk quite comfortably into his roll.

"Ash Ketchum, from Pallet Town."

Brock's eyes brightened and a warm smile flicked over his face. "Ah! I believe I fought someone from there only two days ago, Oak?"

He grinned. Of course Gary had rushed through here already. They hadn't exactly made plans for meeting up with each other, or Leaf for that matter. But knowing the boy had beat him to the Boulder Badge only made him more excited to win. "Yeah, Gary Oak. Did he win?"

"His squirtle was good, although I will admit his growlithe was much stronger than I expected. He won the battle fair and square."

This time he didn't hide his smile. "That's good. Did you happen to run into someone else? Her name is Leaf."

Brock frowned for a second, head cocked. "I don't think so, although-" he chuckled self-deprecating "-I do get a bit of a foggy memory after about a week. I have many trainers every week and I'm afraid I have trouble remembering them all."

"No, I think she would have been around the same time as Gary. Thanks for telling me."

"My pleasure. Are you ready to battle?"

Brock nodded up to the referee, who cleared her throat once before starting to announce a list of rules in a calm voice. "This is the gym battle between Brock the gym leader and Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town. There is always a chance that your gym battle has been randomly chosen to be recorded for showing the League. Spectators will be asked to leave if they are overly loud, disruptive, or derogatory. The battle will be two on two, with the challenger allowed to use substitutions while Brock is not. Brock will throw his pokemon first." Her voice slipped into dull tones that showed the amount of time she had been saying that particular speech over the course of her job.

Brock rolled his neck, popping his knuckles. Without looking, he grabbed one of his pokeballs off of the ledge in front of him. "Go, Geodude!" He barked, throwing it sharply out onto the field. In a flash of red light his pokemon appeared.

Geodudes were curious creatures. When tucked up, they were indistinguishable from the rock around them, simply another boulder. This was one of their ways of defending themselves, as many wild pokemon lacked the mental strength and knowledge to learn the move Rock Polish in order to escape their predators. Though it was impossible to see, behind all of their lumpy rock exterior, there were a core deep inside that held vital organs. That was why they were so weak to water attacks - the water could seep past the rock and hit their core.

Ash eyed it carefully. It seemed larger than the average sized shown in the picture, though not nearly big enough to be kingsize. But it dipped lower to the ground, its weight too heavy to keep it over three or four feet off the ground without effort. He could use that.

It still seemed excited, eyes narrowed beneath heavy rock. The geodude hadn't seemed in the least surprised about being released onto the field, and he realized that it had probably spent most of its life battling in this arena. It clashed stone hands together, shouting an announcing battle cry.

Geodude for Ro.

"Get 'em, Ro!" He barked, throwing his pokeball out as smoothly as he could. It landed lightly in front of him, scarlet light spilling from its opening. Before his pokemon could appear, it shot back to his hand.

Ro had already been briefed on what he would be fighting in, although he sniffed curiously at the rough sand covering the bottom of the pit. He lowered his head and bellowed deep in the chest, the sound reverberating around the battle floor. The muffled lights of the room made his purple coloration seem even darker.

Brock whistled as the nidoran appeared, raising an eyebrow and scanning the pokemon with a keen eye. "A kingsize, eh? Did you find him in Viridian Forest?"

There was nothing but curiosity in his voice. "Yeah. He was the best battle I've had so far."

"Well, I guess I'll have to start looking there for pokemon more often."

Ash grinned at him, though his eyes immediately flickered back down to the pokemon. Geodude looked alert, hands clenching and flexing as it lightly bobbed through the air. Its shell was tough but not as smooth as it could have been, which meant it wasn't nearly old enough to do any sort of evolving, which was perfect for him. There weren't any imperfections on its shell, which either meant it had had ample time to recover from the last gym battle or it hadn't even taken a beating.

Ro was ready, barbs fully extended and weeping clear poison. His horn was already beading and he was lowering himself to a battle ready stance, legs splayed and head lowered. It looked much more impressive when Ash knew that this pokemon was now fighting for him instead of against.

Brock didn't look nervous, though Ash hadn't expected him to be. Ro had the obvious weakness here. "Ref! Start the match, please."

The referee smiled, held up her hand, and swiped it down. "Nidoran vs Geodude, begin!"

"Toxic Spikes! Repeated!" He barked immediately, even before Brock began to open his mouth.

He had grilled this into Ro long last night. Every time he wasn't moving, he was firing off more Toxic Spikes. The tax of summoning the poison wouldn't begin to take a toll on him for a long time as a fully poison type, and if he only focused on dodging and Toxic Spikes before Ash started his real strategy, the entire field could be covered rather quickly.

See, rock and ground types weren't less affected by poison. No, every pokemon was if you could get it inside of them. But their hard outer shells made it next to impossible to actually get to their skin, so most of the time the attacks had been shaken off before the poison could take hold. Poison was much thicker than water and couldn't slip through the same cracks, and that meant it either took enough poison to complete cover the pokemon or something thin and sharp enough to get to the core to poison the pokemon.

And Toxic Spikes were pointed, so if he could get Geodude to land directly on one, it would dig right past its rocks.

Ro rocked back onto his hind legs and reared up, mouth open. Venom glands worked quickly and he soon spat out the purple globs, sending them crashing over the ground. Brock eyed them with interest, an eyebrow raised, as Ro landed heavily back on all fours.

"Geodude, Tackle." He said, resting his weight on the railing. He still seemed far too relaxed about the battle, eyes gently flicking over the field in front of him.

It was time to change that. "Dodge and repeat, bud!"

Geodude narrowed in on the nidoran and immediately picked up speed. Ro barely managed to stomp out of the way as Geodude shot past him, stopping its assault only a few inches above the ground. It turned back around to face him, looking more alert when it wasn't focused on floating high. He could use that, maybe try to knock it off balance by getting it high in the air.

"Run away and keep firing!"

Ro coughed out another batch of Toxic Spikes before trotting dutifully to a spot farther away from Geodude, who just stared at him and the ground with a curious expression.

"Rollout," Brock said almost lazily. "Avoid the spikes if you can."

Geodude immediately dropped to the ground, tucking its hands close to its body. The ground shook slightly, almost like the beginning of Earthquake. Maybe Brock had trained this pokemon more than he had thought. It avoided landing directly on a spike, but no matter which route it took, it would hit one. Ash felt confident.

At least until it started Rollout.

It was fast. Much too fast. There was no way Ro could dodge that. "Double Kick, Ro! Do it fast!" He cried.

The nidoran turned around and braced his feet just as Geodude approached. His launched his first kick, foot glowing, barely managing to stop the Rollout. But his next kick slammed Geodude back and directly onto a Toxic Spike.

Ash grinned. The pokemon had winced with poisoning when he landed and Ro hadn't even been hit.

Brock nodded, though he didn't look surprised. It was one of the very few effective moves nidoran could learn against his pokemon, and he had no doubt prepared - and faced - all of them. "Rock Throw, keep your distance. Try to get it cornered if you can."

"Start dodging again, Ro! Use Poison Sting when you can and don't get cornered."

The nidoran shot a look that said 'no, really?'

He blushed.

Ro started to run as fast as he could away from Geodude, and Ash winced. He'd be getting his friend into sprinting exercises as soon as possible, as his bulk was barely shuffling over the rocky floor.

But Geodude just floated over to the nearest rock formation, casually brushing off the Toxic Spike with one hand. It slammed its fists against the stone and grabbed some of the shards that fell, immediately turning to fire them.

One missed.

The other hit directly on Ro's back.

The nidoran bellowed and nearly fell, catching himself at the last second. He trembled for a second, an enormous bruise blossoming on his back.

None of his pokemon had been trained on resisting hits. Bug types didn't hit hard, but these pokemon were looking to do exactly the opposite.

Brock grinned. "Rock Throw again!"

"Poison Sting while it's distracted!" He clenched his fists. Ro couldn't take more than two more hits yet his most powerful attacks were up close. His research hadn't prepared him for the heat of battle nor had his fights with novice bug catchers told him anything about the careful and dangerous way Brock commanded his pokemon. Every move was well thought out and forced Ash to change his strategy just to try and land a hit.

Ro fired two streaks of poison, both of them hitting Geodude just as it went to gather more rocks. They pushed it closer to the ground but it just shrugged them off, turning back to stacks of rocks that littered the field.

Brock opened his mouth to command something before Ro started running without so much as a command. He closed his mouth, tilting his head, eyes narrowing.

Ash just stared. What was he-

Ro reared back directly under Geodude and blasted Double Kick at its underside.

Ash cheered wildly as Geodude flew away, eyes wide and the sound of crashing rocks echoing through the gym. When it eventually righted itself a fair distance away, it was wincing heavily, and things were just getting better and better. Poisoning from the Toxic Spike and then from Ro touching him?

Brock was on a timer now, and all he had to do was get Ro to run far enough away to avoid any more Rock Throws.

"Start running! Stay as far away as possible and don't even think of attacking!" He barked, still grinning.

Geodude lunged right for the nearest pile of stone without so much as a prompt from his trainer, scooping up two enormous handfuls. Its eyes were narrowed with frustration and a hint of pain, and it was definitely floating lower to the ground.

"Ro! Dodge!"

The rocks snapped through the air, but Ro slammed his front legs down and stopped under a cloud of dust. The Rock Throw flew over his head and thudded heavily against the ground. He immediately started running again, though he had lost his momentum, but he had avoided the attack.

"Grab and go up, Geodude. Use gravity," Brock said softly, but he was smiling and leaning forward, more interested in the battle. His weight had been shifted off of the pillar and his hands were around the railing.

Ash couldn't quite decide whether that was good or bad. Also, what the heck was gravity? Was it a move?

Geodude snatched up two more rocks before suddenly shooting toward the ceiling, moving much faster than he would have thought, though the movement was definitely straining it. Eyeing the field, it inched until it was directly over Ro.

Ash's eyes widened. "Dodge-"

The first rock slammed into Ro's head.

But the second drifted off course as Geodude finally lost his battle against the poison and snapped his eyes shut, plummeting to the ground. Brock easily recalled him before he hit, smiling. He whispered a quiet encouragement to the pokeball before setting it off to the side, where he'd presumably heal it up later.

The ref snapped her hand down, scratching something down on a sheet of paper. "Geodude is down! First match goes to Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town!"

Ash let out a deep sigh. He was confident, yes, but some part of him really didn't expect his newly caught pokemon to take down a gym leader's.

Not that he was complaining.

"That was well done." Brock complimented, stretching his hands above his head and shifting his feet into a more ready stance. "Did you train him to attack without commands?"

He scratched the back of his neck. "Er- he's my caught pokemon. I guess he just used that from the wild."

Brock nodded with a smile on his face, finishing stretching and preparing himself, eyeing the field with a curious glance. He palmed the other pokeball, head tilted to the side.

Ash was focusing on Ro. The nidoran wasn't knocked out yet and while he was injured, he had already pushed himself to his feet and was looking over his wounds, barbs extending protectively.

He would be able to fight again, but only as a last resort. Challengers at gyms were allowed to use substitutions while the gym leaders couldn't, so if he wanted to could recall Apep at any moment and send in Ro, then repeat. He would avoid that if possible, though. It took pokemon a few seconds to recover from pokeball statis and constantly switching them in and out could cause their concentration to fall drastically. If Apep couldn't take out the onix, then maybe Ro could finish him off. The pokemon was both wild and kingsize. Ash most definitely believed in him.

With the press of a button, he watched Ro disappear in a burst of red light with a startled grunt. He set the pokeball back down with a quiet apology and words of encouragement. The nidoran might not be done yet.

"Let's see your starter!" Brock grinned, readying his pokeball. "I'll throw first."

And with that, he launched his pokeball.

It bounced back to him almost immediately, but with a flash of scarlet light an onix burst from within.

The pokemon was enormous. It wasn't thirty-seven feet long, like the records the pokedex had talked about, but its twenty-five feet were nothing to scoff at. Each stone was lightly scarred and cracked, and the onix roared furiously upon its release, eyes lit up.

Snake type pokemon were notorious amongst trainers. While smaller ones, such as ekans, seviper, even arbok, weren't as bad, once they got larger there was a problem. No real study could explain the battle craze that they experienced, but onix and gyarados were prime suspects. In fact, steelix were even considered calmer, perhaps because they strayed farther from nature and more into the mechanical zone.

But it was just a fact - onix were nothing to be laughed at, at least not if you weren't behind a powerful Protect. And Brock's onix seemed to support the fact.

Its crest - larger on males - was sharper than usual, but it was still lumpy in a way that showed its younger age. Rock types smoothed over and grew with age, and this pokemon looked like it would be a while until it got close to the experience that would allow it to evolve into a steelix upon contact with large amounts of steel.

Ash still stared blankly at the thing. But it was still a monster.

Apep suddenly didn't seem quite as threatening as he had thought.

But still he tossed out his pokeball, watching the sphere launch through the air before smacking into the ground close to him. Onix stayed close to Brock's side, rumbling deep in its chest.

The ekans appeared, spitting furiously. To everyone else, it looked like the snake was ready to fight anything. Only Ash saw the sudden stiffening as Apep saw the monster of a pokemon he would be fighting.

But his tail still rattled furiously, the sound dry and dusty. Fangs bared and beads of poison slipped off of them, and the gold on his tail caught the light and flared brightly over the field, the shiny scales perfectly reflective even in the dim light.

Brock nodded, head tilted to the side, staring with an experienced eye. "He's a pretty good size. Nice purple color - and that gold is perfect. I don't know anyone who hands out ekans, though. Who was your sponsor?"

"Professor Oak, actually. The charmander he got from the hatcheries was too wild to be given to a starting trainer," he explained, setting his pokeball back on the desk. All that ran through his head was strategies.

The gym leader hummed thoughtfully, still eyeing Apep. "Well, he's a good pokemon. Looks well trained. No doubt you've either taught him one of his tutor moves or given him a TM, right?"

Ash grinned. "I won't tell."

Brock laughed. "I wasn't expecting you to! I don't doubt you've got to have some sort of plan to challenge my gym with two severely disadvantaged pokemon, especially with what I've seen with your nidoran! Ref!"

She cleared her throat. "Onix vs Ekans, go!"

This time, Brock snapped forward with the first command. "Onix, Dig! Don't come up until I tell you!"

Onix bellowed, the sound much more impressive than Ro's. It craned its head around before slamming it into the ground, the sound rattling its way through Ash's skull. Rotating rapidly, it sunk into the rock and then was gone.

All that it left was a gaping hole, at least four feet across. The ground quivered once before stopping as Onix reached a stable position beneath their feet.

Apep flicked his tongue out nervously, peering around. He slithered slightly forward, examining the field, before he turned back around and looked at Ash. There was confusion in his eyes, but there was also trust, and that gave him an idea.

"Apep! You have to trust me on this." He stepped as close to the field as he could. He could say his plan out loud for now. He'd save his ace for when Onix was out on the playing field.

Brock tilted his head, content to watch him plan.

Apep fully looked at him, ready. He sucked in a deep breath and commanded, "Follow him, Apep! Go down the hole and use Iron Tail!"

Brock leaned back, eyebrows furrowed, but Apep was already moving, disappearing over the edge of the gaping hole. In a second he was gone and the field was empty once again.

There wasn't any witty banter from Brock then. He still looked with narrowed eyes over the stone, tense. His hands were gripping the metal railing.

A second later and Onix's bellow echoed through the gym, loud and pained. Brock cursed and shouted, "Up, Onix!"

The rock snake burst through the rock floor, black eyes narrowed. A crack spidered over the second to last rock on its body, fresh. It landed heavily, shaking the floor, and immediately curled up, head whipping back and forth.

Apep came through the hole a second later, golden eyes shining with a victorious spirit. He slithered quickly onto the opposite side of the field as Onix, hissing happily.

Brock knew that Apep knew Iron Tail, but that was only one advantage he knew. It was time to put a timer on this battle - he had to get Onix poisoned. The Toxic Spikes were already starting to fade, seeping into the stone where it couldn't affect Onix any longer. Poison Fang - up close and personal on the spot that was already injured - would have to do the trick, though he hoped that Poison Sting would work before that.

"Rock Throw!" Brock called, eyes narrowed.

Onix slammed its tail heavily into the ground and shattered chunks of rock flung themselves into the air, careening in an arc towards Apep. But he was ready.

Ash sucked in a deep breath and trilled as loudly as he could.

Brock blinked but Apep flung himself forward, speeding ahead of the rocks and shooting toward Onix. He swerved around a falling stone before reaching Onix, rearing up. Fangs flashed and then he buried them in the crevice between two rock segments.

Onix bellowed again but Ash whistled, shrill and piercing, and Apep immediately let go and slithered back just in time to avoid the snake's thrashing.

Brock gaped as Apep got far enough away, reared back up, and snapped Poison Stings toward Onix.

"Leer, Apep! Then aim with Poison Sting for where you bit!" Ash called, a fire burning in his chest. Onix had winced, though not as heavily as he would have liked. His opponent was poisoned.

Brock shook himself back together and laughed full heartedly, grinning madly. "That's one hell of a strategy! Let's see if it can stand up to this! Onix, Rock Polish and then Stone Edge!"

Ash cursed and cupped his hands over his mouth. "Apep, use Acid! Try to distract it!"

Apep spat out bursts of bright purple poison that hardened almost immediately once it left his mouth, but it merely glittered through the air and bounced off of Onix's body. If Apep couldn't dodge, Stone Edge would devastate him. Onix was already shining, pieces of protruding rock glowing before falling off. There was no telling how fast Onix would be once it finished.

As it turned out, it was very fast.

Bellowing, it slammed its tail into the ground with enough force to make his teeth shake. The ground bulked and surged like a humped back in a straight line toward the desperately fleeing Apep, but stone erupted from beneath him and shot him into the sky.

Apep flailed in midair but Ash shouted up to him. "Like Pinsir! Iron Tail it into the ground!"

With a ferocity he hadn't expected, Apep righted himself and promptly flipped under himself, tail burning a brilliant silver. It slammed onto the crest of Onix. The sound of cracking rock echoed over the room.

Onix bellowed and then lunged, snapping its mouth around the torso of the falling ekans. Apep hissed and rattled furiously but with an angry clack of its jaws, Apep fell limp.

Brock surged to attention. "Onix!" The snake slowly turned toward him. "Put him down. Now."

The rock snake let out a puff of air through its nostrils but it opened its mouth, letting the most definitely unconscious Apep slip out of his mouth. Ash fumbled with the pokeball for a second but he managed to recall his pokemon before he hit the ground, lighting the field up with a burst of red light.

"Ekans is down! Second match goes to Brock!" The referee shouted, flipping to a new page in her book.

Apep had lost. It wasn't like he wasn't expecting it, but it was still shocking to have actually happen. The fights against the bug trainers had gone so well in Apep's favor he had almost forgotten that he had lost both against Gary and Ro.

Brock sighed. "I'm sorry about that. Onix wouldn't have hurt him too badly but I'll give you a full restore. I think Onix might've cracked a rib, and that could take two days to heal in the Pokecenter."

"I didn't think Onix could learn Bite," he said rather faintly.

He shook his head. "They can't. But their jaws are almost on par with krokodile in sheer strength in order to be able to eating large boulders, and they cause a lot of damage whether with a move or not. Are you going to call out your nidoran?"

Ash gave himself a moment to collect himself, but then he determinedly nodded and pulled out his other pokeball.

Ro appeared in a flash of scarlet and he immediately tensed at the sight of Onix, who peered down at him with an almost curious expression. The snake seemed to have calmed down a fair amount, though it was slumped with pain.

Two rocks on its body was cracked and it was definitely still poisoned. He just had to outlast it.

"Onix vs. Nidoran! Begin!" The ref called, slashing her hand down.

Brock paused for a second and Ash took the initiative. "Ro!" The nidoran spun to face him, purple eyes ready and barbs extending. "I need you to get close. Use Horn Attack as hard as you can!"

Ro lumbered toward Onix, who rumbled down at him with narrowed eyes. Brock commanded, "Onix! Bind!"

Onix shot his tail around, ready to wrap the nidoran up, but Ro just promptly changed direction and slammed his glowing horn into the cracked section of Onix, throwing his whole not insubstantial weight behind it.

The snake roared for the first time, the sound piercing. Ro's horn had broken past the rocks and speared its core, and it showed. Onix writhed, flinging Ro away, but the nidoran charged right back in with his horn glowing almost brighter than before. He stabbed with ruthless accuracy on the same spot.

Onix let out one last last ear-shattering shriek before going limp, flopping heavily on the ground. Ro jumped back just in time to miss the heavy body.

The ref clapped twice. "And Onix is down! The gym battle goes to Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town!"

Brock sighed, though with a smile on his face. Picking up his pokeball, he carefully recalled Onix and watched as it disappeared into the tiny ball in his hand. The field seemed empty without it.

Ro spat out a burst of molten poison, shaking his head. He turned back around to face Ash, who rather felt like he could have exploded from the joy he was feeling. "Ro! You did it! You defeated Brock!"

The nidoran shuffled forward, heading closer to him. But Ash turned and ran down the ramp to the field, where he fell to his knees and hugged Ro tightly, careful of the horn and very thankful that he had retracted his barbs.

Brock chuckled. "Yes he did. Give me a second to grab your Boulder Badge and a max revive, please." He disappeared into a side room tucked in shadows but Ash wasn't paying attention. He had won his first gym battle!

Ro rumbled happily at him, pushing his nose into Ash's palm. His warm breath tickled his fingers and his spines scuffed against the palm of his other hand but Ash didn't care, smiling too widely. It had come. He had won his first real battle, one he had really struggled and fought to win.

Brock returned, holding two items. He vaulted over the railing and landed softly on the stone floor, bending down slightly to absorb the shock from landing. Walking slowly, he got close enough for Ash to realize he was only five inches taller than him, and his face was much younger than he had expected. It was hard to remember in the battle that Brock was only fifteen years old, not even an adult yet.

"Here is your Boulder Badge, worthy champion," he said with a teasing voice. It was small, maybe two inches in diameter, a gentle brown carved like a gem. The back had Brock's name on it as well as the gym's name, and a small pin to attach it to badge cases.

He held out a hand, showing a small star-shaped package. A full restore. "May I see your ekans?"

Ash nodded, pulling out the pokeball. He released Apep, wincing at the still form that appeared on the stone. His eyes were rolled back and bruises marched steadily along his back, and a part of his spine seemed almost crooked.

Brock hissed sympathetically. Stepping closer, he carefully undid a small opening on the top of the container before holding it over Apep's open mouth. With one shake, golden dust fell into his throat.

The effect was instantaneous. Bruises glimmered the same gold as the dust before seeming to speed up, going from a rich blue-black to soft yellows to gentle reds to gone. He straightened up, spine readjusting, and even the tenseness of his muscles faded away. A few seconds later, his eyes snapped open.

Immediately, he reared back, hissing. Ash reached forward and touched his tail, a bit above his rattle and he spun around to face him. With one look he calmed down, trilling gently and curiously.

"You're okay, bud. We won the battle." He held up the Boulder Badge and Apep flicked his tongue out at it, head tilted to the side. Ro nosed closer too, peering curiously at it.

Brock shuffled and Apep immediately swung back to face him, eyes narrowed. Ash grabbed him and pulled the snake back to Brock's amused expression. "Calm down, you sore loser. He's good."

"Thank you," Brock said with a grin. His eyes flicked over Apep, his grin spreading into a happy smile. He met Ash's eyes.

"May I?" He asked, hand outstretched. There was nothing but warm honesty on his face.

Ash pointed to Apep. "Ask him. I'm fine with it."

Brock chuckled softly before turning his full attention to the snake, tilting his head to the side and asking the same question. Apep looked at him with narrowed gold eyes for a second before carefully turning his head, exposing his neck.

Brock ran his hand over the sleek scales, a soft expression on his face. He avoided the rattle the second after Apep tensed when he touched it and never went anywhere near the more delicate underscales, only stroking his back.

"He's a wonderful pokemon," he said with a breeder's voice. "Using his hunting call as a signal to attack is brilliant, and the two of you worked very well together. Your nidoran as well - I can't say I've ever seen a kingsize with someone so young, although I assume you already know you're going to have to get him a bit faster?"

Ash blushed. "Yeah, so far I've only worked on endurance. I didn't really realize until today how slow he is."

Brock nodded his head. "It'll be tricky, but running for short times will help him more than walking for hours. I would suggest doing both, though, but not on the same day." He pet Apep one more time before moving to straight up.

"Wait!" Brock stopped and looked down at him, head tilted. "Can I - um - ask you a few questions? I'm really interested in onix."

Brock brightened up, extending a hand to help him stand. "Sure! Is there anything specific you want to know, or just general knowledge?"

Ash paused. This was his chance to get insider's knowledge about an incredible pokemon from a man who had spent years studying from them. Opportunities like this wouldn't come every day. "General knowledge, please? I've never actually seen one before today."

"Okay. Well, onix are an incredible species. They hatch at only five feet long, not much smaller than your ekans there. They grow pretty quickly until they're about ten feet long and then it slows down greatly. For the first couple of months they need another onix to look after them, and if you want a surefire way to end up in the hospital, go challenge an onix who's looking after a youngling. But other than that, they prefer to stay more to themselves. People get the wrong opinion about them because most encounters are from onix caring over young because they can't burrow until the young ones are old enough to survive that, so they're the ones you find most often on the surface. They're actually pretty quiet."

He got a smile on his face. "You said you're really interested in them, huh? Do you want to see the one from my actual team?"

Ash gaped for a second before jumping to attention. "Um, yes! Please!"

Brock laughed before jogging up the ramp, heading back toward the machine that had given him the other pokemon. With a few buttons he had a new pokeball in his hand, and he quickly came running back into the field. "You might want to keep your distance," he called with a grin.

Ash pressed his back to the side of the arena, hurriedly gesturing his pokemon to match him. Brock threw the pokeball.

The onix that came out of the scarlet mist was… a legend.

At least thirty-seven feet long and several feet thick, it emerged with a ground-shaking boom as it landed on the floor. Its rocks were in perfect condition, almost as smooth as glass and nearly a pitch black. The sheer age of the pokemon was above anything he had seen before, judging by how prestine its stones were. It lowered its head, about the size of Brock himself, and carefully nuzzled his side.

Ash gaped.

Brock came back over to him, the onix slithering up beside him. "I caught her when I was only seven years old, and she was a full grown adult at that point. I really don't know how old she is but it is sheer luck alone that I managed to catch her after she had fought with another onix previously, else there's no way I would have caught her. She's currently the biggest caught onix, though there are rumors of a forty foot monster out there somewhere. But she's definitely my ace in the hole, mainly because everyone thinks that evolved pokemon are better."

He sat down in the same crossed-legged meditative position he had had before, and Onix carefully lowered her upper half until she was flat on the ground, her nose inches from his leg. He stroked it carefully, listening to her gentle rumbles.

"People think she's slow, because she's big. They think she's weak, because she hasn't evolved. They think she's stupid, because she's made of rocks. And that's what's really important, you know? People always think what they want to think."

He pointed at Apep. "You're going to get double looks because of him. Ever since Team Rocket became a thing, people don't like poison types any more. Nidorans are more okay before they were pretty popular before, but ekans and zubats and koffings are blatantly distrusted. People don't like anything that Team Rocket likes and I'm not going to lie, starting off with two poison types is going to get you some funny looks."

Ash had a dry throat. "I haven't gotten anything yet."

Brock smiled almost sadly. "I guessed so. Kid, it's going to be hard to start your journey. But power through and you're going to be something special, okay? So don't let them try and tell you what they think, because my Onix is proof that is doesn't work."

He patted her nose. "She's taken down steelix after steelix because she knows how to use what she has even though she hasn't evolved yet. I see that you've taught your pokemon a pretty fair amount of moves, but then you forget about the moves they had before. Ekans start with Wrap, right? If you had started with that around my onix's tail, you might have been able to stop Stone Edge and keep him conscious. You've obviously been thinking outside of the box with your sounds, but you're still falling prey to what every trainer does. It's not so much that more moves aren't better, because they are. But every move is different, and they all have their own purpose. Much like pokemon."

Apep perked up as Brock pointed to him. "There are some ekans who are evil, who want to eat and bite and kill. Then there are some ekans who curl up around their trainers as they fall asleep and only fight when asked to do so in a battle. You can't use one without knowing the other exists, and there comes a moment for both. Admittedly, the move Tackle seems useless, no?"

It felt like a time to nod, so he did, thoroughly engrossed in the lecture Brock was giving him.

"After you learn Quick Attack, it feels like Tackle should cease to exist. You never use it anymore. But you should."

"What gym leader, when you challenge them for your seventh badge, isn't going to frown in confusion when you call for Tackle with your fully grown Nidoking? But by the time you do it, they realize that not only have you poisoned their pokemon with the ability Poison Point, but you also have suffered no recoil. Their pokemon hasn't been knocked back by the move, like they would with Quick Attack, and that puts you close enough to do some real damage. If they are a normal type, then they even get a boost while attack but they don't knock their opponent back and that gives them the chance to attack again, and again, and again, and the other trainer will wonder why you are using the first move pokemon learn until they realize that their pokemon has fainted and you are the winner."

"It's hard to understand and use, but the basics of Leer and Wrap can end a fight long before it begins. So don't cast moves away because you don't understand how you can use them. There is always a way."

Ash stared in awe at the lesson he had gotten, mind already whirling with ways that he could use that. Tackle seemed so much cooler when he thought about it that way, and already he thought about the ways he could use simple things like Peck and Wrap to keep his opponent away or keep them from attacking in order to use other moves to attack them.

"Thank you," he said weakly. "That was… something else. Really. Wow."

Brock chuckled, a grin settling onto his face. Onix blew out a puff of air, peering over at Apep who seemed almost submissive in the presence of this giant. Ro was already avoiding eye contact.

"Would you like to touch her?"

Ash straightened. "Could I?"

Brock gestured. "Why don't you ask her?"

He stood up fully, inching closer until he was staring at Onix, who stared back with keen, sharp eyes. She seemed to understand his intentions even as she raised her head slightly off the ground until they were eye to eye.

"May I touch you?" He asked very quietly, hunching his shoulders.

She blinked once before slowly angling her head up and down, rocks sliding against each other. Brock grinned from next to him, having already stood up. "Go on. She likes her neck the best."

Ash tiptoed until he was at her side, stretching a hand up and touching the smoothness of the stone. It was still slightly rough, but his hand glided over the rock that was making up a pokemon's body.

He became frightening aware of how far Apep and Ro had to go to become anywhere close to this giant that could defeat them both easily. It wasn't even a question of whether she could, it was if she would.

And indeed, there was none of the aggression they were none for. There was a pleased rumble as Brock dug his fingernails into a crevice, brushing out dust and small bits of stone. She trusted him and he trusted her.

"She's incredible," he finally said. Onix let out a happy grumble as she settled back on the ground, allowing Brock to perch on top of her neck.

Brock smiled at him. "She is. Give me your pokedex."

He quickly pulled it from where it was clipped on the back of his belt and handed it over, watching as the gym leader flipped open contacts and put himself in with a number he could only guess was private.

Brock handed it back, a grin on his face. "I have a feeling that if I find a wayward spirit somewhere around these mountains, I have someone I could contact to take good care of them."

"I promise," Ash said as truthfully as he could. "Thank you for trusting me."

Brock had a curious look on his face. "Thank you for asking."

* * *

Ash wandered back to the Pokecenter in some sort of daze, still reeling both from the fact he had won and the brilliant talk that Brock had given him. He pushed open the doors, sliding into the slightly air-conditioned room. The Boulder Badge was tightly clenched in his fist and he slowly walked over to Nurse Joy.

"Oh, hello, Ash! Did you win?" She said cheerfully.

He grinned widely back at her. "I did! Can I have a badge case?"

She smiled at him, reaching under her desk with her pink hair swinging. "Of course. I'm very proud of you! Do you want your pokemon checked over?"

He accepted the sleek black box with a glass top. "I'll bring them down before I go to sleep, but I'd like to talk to them first, if that's okay. I have potions so they won't be in pain."

Nodding, she shooed him away. "Go on and congratulate them!"

He did just that, sitting in his room on the third floor and releasing Apep and Ro. They both appear and he immediately grabbed one of his potions, dumping one half on the bruise on Ro's back and the other on the one on his neck. The nidoran sighed happily as the dark purple bruising faded away into his regular light violet shade, brightening up.

He sat cross legged, trying to replicate what Brock had done. "Okay guys. I need to tell you how proud I am of you all, okay?"

Ash faced Ro first. "You took out a geodude, which you were at a disadvantage at, to begin with. But you were able to knock it back and down with all of your Double Kicks and then win the battle! I know it was the hardest battle you've ever had to do before and you tried so hard and you did it. I'm really proud of you. And then you even went on to finish off the onix! You saw how big it was, and you were able to finish it off, and I just want you to know how very proud I am of you."

He snorted happily, air puffing out from his nostrils. He pushed his nose into his hand, rubbing softly as Ash scratched his nose, eyes closed.

Ash turned to Apep, who turned his head away. He frowned, reaching forward, and the ekans let him touch him but kept his gaze away. It took him a couple of seconds to realize what the problem was.

"You're mad at yourself. Why are you mad at yourself? You have no reason to be."

Apep looked up at him with a look akin to confusion.

"You fought with something three, if not four times your length, and managed to weaken it to the point that two more hits knocked it out completely. You did everything perfectly, it was me who messed up. You went into that hole and landed the first hit on the onix without me even telling you what to do, you just knew what to do. Did you see Brock's face? He had no idea what our trills and whistles meant and you did them so well that he couldn't even begin to fight back. And even when he flung you into the air you still managed to fight back and nail the onix right in the head. Did he see that coming? No!"

He leaned forward and slowly wrapped his arms around Apep, feeling the snake tense up before relaxing into it. His head landed on his shoulder, tongue tickling his neck.

"Thank you for fighting for me," he whispered into Apep's scales. He felt the snake rumble happily against his chest, scales vibrating. Ro pressed his side against the two of them and Ash wrapped another hand around him, pulling them all into a tight hug. They stayed there for a while, enjoying it.

But then he pulled back and pulled out his pokedex, carefully looking at his contacts first. There was Professor Oak, the emergency League contact, and then a new one. Brock.

He still couldn't believe he had gotten a gym leader's phone number, and that gym leader had even suggested that he might be called if he found a pokemon in the mountains. Maybe even an onix?

He was looking too far ahead, but that didn't mean it wasn't a wonderful thought to think about.

But now he had other things to do. He let his pokemon crowd around him as he pulled up each of their moves and future movesets, examining them closely. Apep trilled when he pointed to Acid, but Ash shook his head. The snake seemed very miffed.

"No, it's not like that. Didn't you hear what Brock said? I've got to work on getting you guys stronger on your current moves. It doesn't matter how many new moves we learn if we never master the old ones. And then I've also got to up your speed, especially you, Ro. And training you two to take hits is also important, although I don't quite know how'll I do that."

Both Apep and Ro looked very frightened with the amount of work he continued to lay out in front of them, listing more and more things that they had to do until he finally ended his tirade.

"-and you both need to work on jumping, okay? It would have been great if either of you could have gotten on top of one of those rock structures, and then you could have hit the geodude even when he was in the air."

He shook himself, blinking a couple of times. "But that's for later. I think we'll stay a few days here, maybe visiting Brock a couple more times. Maybe we'll even run in with Leaf, I really want to have a battle. But most importantly, we're going to train long and hard. Since we'll be staying here, we don't need to worry about traveling for at least most of the day. We can spend it all training. And don't worry, I've got plenty of berries to keep you two on your feet. Or scales."

The grin he had did not make them feel very comfortable.

* * *

 **Heyyyyy**

 **Yeah, so this took forever to come out. So sue me. It took forever to write, and I also have finals in under three days. Give me a break.**

 **But yeah! Ash has a new pokemon! What do you think of Ro and Apep's grudge against him?**

 **And yes, I know. Finding a kingsize pokemon so soon and actually capturing it and blah blah blah.**

 **But I'm trying to make them not that powerful and actually quite a big drain on Ash's resources. Ro will be pretty slow and won't be able to turn or dodge very well. And it doesn't affect his powers all at! He's just a big bigger than normal.**

 **I mean, I've got to make the title count for something, k? Just roll with it.**

 **Also, what do you guys think of the trills and whistles? I thought it would be pretty cool to see Ash standing strong in a battle against Team Rocket and he's just furiously whistling.**

 **I don't know. It was funny to me.**

 **But yeah, this was kind of a filler in the beginning but hey! Boulder Badge! Fun things!**

 **I don't know yet. But yeah! Samurai! Delia! Poison shot thing! Ro! And maybe there could even be a pokemon Ash could capture around Pewter. Any ideas?**

 **Anyway! Please read and review!**

 **Frost OUT!**


	3. Mount Moon

Ash woke up brightly, remembered what happened yesterday, and then shook his pokemon awake. Sunlight wasn't yet streaming through the small window, but he was getting used to waking up early. Before his journey it would be miracle to get up before the sun came out. Now, it was routine.

Apep grumbled once but popped his eyes open, twitching his tail sluggishly. The rattle sounded around the room, still as dry and scratchy as ever. Neither his gold or purple had dimmed or darkened, which meant he wasn't close to evolving. He really was a younger pokemon than Ash had originally thought.

Ro immediately snapped up with the sound of the tail, eyes wide and staring. His wild instincts flared like this every so often, and Ash both enjoyed and feared them. Wild pokemon had brilliant intuitions, of course, but they also didn't know how to function in everyday society or in battles.

But they were both awake, and that was what counted. He changed quickly, dropping his old clothes into the laundry shoot. One of the many brilliant perks that came with staying in a Pokecenter.

Apep slithered over to him and poked his ankle with his nose, flicking his tongue out. Ash rolled his eyes. "Yeah, come on up buddy. But the second we start training, you're off."

The ekans shot up his leg, twining around his chest and resting his head on his shoulder. His weight was still heavy but after carrying his very full bag every day, Ash was getting more and more prepared to handle it. Although when he was an arbok, things might change. He didn't quite think he could support the much larger snake.

He'd try, anyway.

But the three of them plodded out of the room, Ash tucking two fresh potions in his pockets. For the training he'd be doing, it'd be better to keep them on him instead of having to come down and get Nurse Joy to heal his pokemon up every second.

The food court was open and almost empty except for a few random trainers, most his age or slightly over, a few pokemon littered around their feet. There was a size limit for pokemon allowed to be out in the Pokecenter, and Ro just barely fit within that height. He walked up to the vender and showed the man there his two pokemon, and was gifted with a breakfast dish for himself and two bowls of the generic pokemon food.

They ate quickly, though Apep eating right next to his ear was slightly distracting. But once they finished, he promptly left the room and went to talk to Nurse Joy.

She perked up when she saw him, smiling warmly. "Hello, Ash. Are you leaving for your journey now?"

He shook his head. "No, I'm actually planning to stay for about a week. I do have a couple of questions, though - am I allowed to go into the gym when I don't want to challenge Brock? I'd like to get his help for a few things. Also, do you know of a training field anywhere around the Pokecenter?"

"Oh!" Nurse Joy visibly brightened. "Brock would love that. All trainers do these days is go there to challenge for gym battles, and that gets very boring. Poor boy just has to sit there until someone else comes along, as he can't really train his pokemon in the off chance someone comes in. I understand that some of the larger, more famous gym leaders don't appreciate it, but I'm sure that Brock would. He's such a nice boy - you should ask about his golem. He can talk your ear off when he wants to."

"Thanks!" He left the Pokecenter with a plan.

* * *

Brock, as it turned out, greatly appreciated Ash coming over. He was still sitting in his meditative position in the middle of the darkened side of the room, and he immediately burst out into his 'welcome, trainer' speech until Ash announced who he was. The teen had shot to his feet, a real smile on his face.

"Ash! Back again so soon?" He said warmly, striding over to clasp the younger boy's hand in his own.

"Yeah." He shook back as strongly as he could. Brock's grip was rough, heavy with callouses. A fitting hand for a rock type trainer. "I was wondering if you had any extra time to help me out? I'm planning to stay here for a week, but I don't quite know what I should do-"

Brock grinned widely. "I think I could spare a minute or two."

He smiled back.

Brock, as it turned out, had a killer training regiment. He started off with looking over his pokemon, examining their claws and scales and teeth. He checked their current movesets with Ash's pokedex, glancing over their future possible moves. Then he asked them to jump, run, jog, sprint - and when he was finally satisfied, he started to command them.

Apep, of course, refused to work with him at first. The prideful snake only managed to get a rueful smile out of Brock. At least until Ro started to jog slowly at Brock's command did he shoot forward to beat his rival, determinedly moving faster.

That was the first day. The second day was what floored Ash.

He came in to see Brock stretched over the floor, a book in his hand and another by his side. The lights were on dimly and the air was cool, but no pokemon were out and the referee was probably in her relaxing room.

Ash inched toward the field just as Brock finished up his second book and asked him to release his pokemon.

Thirty minutes of sheer breeder ability.

The book he had been reading was part of a nearly 800 book long series, one written by a team of twenty people working constantly. It was called A Breeder's Guide, and every book had a different pokemon. Brock had grabbed his copy of ekans and nidoran and read through them, preparing for today.

He showed Ash everything important over his pokemon. Apep had four poison glands inside of his mouth, one behind each fang with a secondary opening in the back of his throat for the moves like Acid and Poison Sting. It constantly produced poison and when the glands were full, it released the poison into Apep's system where it was absorbed into his blood and organs.

Ro, on the other hand, had a different method. He had a secondary layer of skin, which was what accounted for his ability Poison Point. The second layer of skin acted as an enormous poison gland over his entire body, though his horn did have a poison gland of its own. The layer of skin constantly produced poison, just like Apep, and his barbs absorbed it to be able to inject opponents with contact. The rest of the poison streamlined toward his mouth, allowed him to use Toxic Spikes and the like.

It was incredible and Brock hooked him up with the website that sold the books, saying the best place to buy them was in Celadon, where there was a hearty discount for buying multiple.

Brock spent the following two days just making his pokemon go faster and faster, explaining everything he did with brilliant overdetail, making sure Ash would remember what he did. Running sprints for two minutes at a time, then three, then four, until they reached the maximum of five. Running that fast with two rather slow pokemon could hurt or stress them, and battles at this stage of their development shouldn't last more than a couple of minutes. Once they started to get stronger he should increase the length, but not yet.

Then they worked on endurance, and when Ash hesitantly suggested working on jumping, they did that too. Ash never thought that Apep would be a good jumper, but Brock only grinned and showed him something incredible that his own onix used - Iron Tail.

By charging up the move and slamming it into the ground, Apep was able to get enough of a boost to propel him upward. It wasn't very high, only a couple of feet, but that was infinitely higher than anything he had done before. The first time it had happened, Apep had hissed violently as he flew through the air, writhing before he thunked against the ground. Ash had laughed himself silly at his pokemon's disgruntled expression.

Ro, being both kingsize and gifted with very stubby legs, never really made it very far up. But that was fine for him, Brock explained. The nidoran line was destined to be tanks. They weren't fast enough to be able to dodge hits and they were powerhouses, so it was their best strategy to dodge the hardest hits but otherwise sit there and take it, dealing out blow after blow. It matched pretty well with what they did in the wild as well.

On the third day, Brock brought out a graveler.

It wasn't that large of one, but it was still at least double, maybe triple the size of the geodude Ro had fought. It grinned at them with black eyes and beat two stone fists together, stomping its feet against the ground. It was nearly up to Ash's chin and looked ready for business.

Brock told him to fight it with both Ro and Apep, to get ready for double battles.

He lost. Spectacularly. And then had to deal with the sulking Apep who hissed at anyone who dared come close to him for losing when Ro was right there.

Brock pointed out his faults, telling him where he went wrong. He had commanded too detailed of moves, acting like it was still one on one when he only had to focus on one pokemon. Ro and Apep had run into each other once when he gave them both the command to get in close and attack the legs, and the graveler had merely kicked them away without even a move. It hadn't been good for his self esteem.

But Brock helped him up after that, spending the rest of the time teaching him little tips and tricks in order to let his pokemon have more of a say, giving them basic commands and letting them run the show. The next day, when he brought out the same pokemon, he won. It was close and Ro was knocked out by a well-placed Rock Throw, but when he returned from the Pokecenter the next day there was a bright smile on his face.

Brock had a competitor that day, a bright-eyed bushy-tailed beginner who threw out an oddish. He won the battle, barely, against the geodude, but fell prey to the onix. His spearow didn't fare much better and he left the room in defeat to Brock's warm words of comfort.

Brock was just… nice. There wasn't another word to describe the man.

The next day passed quickly, testing out each of his pokemon's moves. Brock didn't have the clearest idea on how to improve both of their toxicity, but he suggested looking up diets that trainers used to teach their non-poison type pokemon poison-type moves. It might help them out but he didn't know for sure.

Ash spent one more day with the gym leader, talking for hours about different ways to train up pokemon. Brock was a veritable well of knowledge and Ash did his best to be as a sponge and soak it all up, even writing notes down on his pokedex. But all too soon the day came for him to leave in order to be able to stay at least slightly on schedule and be able to make his way to Fuschia City any time soon. The Safari Zone was opening in less than a couple of weeks, and he'd like to make it there and find a strong pokemon to catch. There were even rumors of dratini sightings, and that was enough to make him drop his previous plans and speed towards there.

However much he wanted to go nice and easy for his gym battles, he'd drop it all if there was a chance he could catch a dratini.

So he said goodbye to Brock at last, promising to call him if he caught a new rock type at Mount Moon or needed some help working with Ro. The gym leader had bonded well with the nidoran, much to Apep's displeasure. He really was the most prideful pokemon Ash had ever seen.

But he headed up to room, brushing the last remains of sleep out of his eyes. He had only stopped for a couple of minutes at the gym for last farewells before he planned to leave. Mount Moon could be out of the way in a single day, though he'd be cutting it close. He'd have to travel for a bit longer than he was used to, but it was better than trying to find a place to sleep surrounded by hundreds of wild pokemon and millions of pounds of rock. He wouldn't get a lot of action in there as well, as most trainers avoiding fighting in the mountain to avoid causing fractures or even collapses.

He checked over the room one more time, peeking his head under the bed just to make sure he hadn't missed anything. It would be just his luck to accidentally leave his pokedex here, the one thing he couldn't replace.

Apep yawned, fangs extended. He slowly slithered out from underneath the poison resistant blanket that he had made his home over their week stay at the Pokecenter. Ro preferred the harder ground, though there had been one night where he had tried out the cushiony mattress of the bed.

He had decided then and there that he would much rather sleep on the floor, and Ash had done his best to pad it with blankets and pillows. Ro had much appreciated it, though he had shoved away a few pillows that made the entire nest too lumpy.

Slipping his bag back around his shoulders, he showed the pokeball to Ro before recalling him. The pokemon still didn't like crowds all too much, and Ash would wait until he was on the route to Mount Moon before calling him back out. Apep immediately slithered up his leg and rested his head on his shoulder, as usual. Lazy snake.

Grabbing his key, he left the room.

Nurse Joy smiled at him as he handed her the key, slipping it into a slit under her desk. Her eyes were warm. "Are you finally ready to leave to Mount Moon, Ash? I've heard a rumor that there has been some pretty strong geodude around the front, if you want to catch one."

He smiled back at her. "Thanks for telling me! I'll be sure to keep an eye out. They'd be a good challenge."

"Of course, dear. Now go on the route before it gets too late!"

He left the Pokecenter with a warm feeling in his chest. The sun had barely peeked over the edge of the horizon, casting a brilliant golden hue over the tall buildings of Pewter City. Few people were out, chatting happily to each other while small pokemon ran underfoot. A persian played a fun game of tag with a growlithe while their two owners looked over the pair of them with smiles on their faces.

Route 4 started with a graveled path, one that didn't last long. The sides of the path were covered in short hrubs that were neatly trimmed, and a few had began to flower in the warm spring weather.

After a couple of minutes down the path, the gravel rapidly disappearing under his feet, he released Ro. The nidoran shook his head, peering curiously around. Ash patted his head lightly, brushing his fingers over the spines running down his back. He could feel thick muscle beneath the violet skin, muscles that had only been growing over the past couple of days. While he never would be good at speed or endurance, he had been increasing every day, and Ash was now much more sure that he would be able to keep up while they walked toward Mount Moon. There might have to be a short break inside his pokeball once in the mountain, but he believed in Ro.

Apep flicked his tongue out at the poison type, and then promptly prodded Ash with his nose. He laughed but got the message, starting to walk once again. Ro lumbered on beside them.

The route was serene. Eventually the shrubs faded away and they were blanketed by the expansive forest that coated the bottom of the mountain, both sides. It wasn't nearly as large as the one before Pewter City, but it was still substantial. Route 4, at least, was blessedly short. It might take them an hour with some change to reach the tunnel the League had carved through the mountain.

Apep eventually joined Ro on the ground, though not of his own accord. There were some disgruntled hisses as Ash unwound him, but he started to slither along beside them. Hey, Apep wasn't getting any lighter. He didn't show any signs of evolution - yet - but Ash was already keenly feeling the restocked supplies in his backpack and didn't need the extra weight of the snake.

They passed one trainer about thirty minutes in, an eleven year old with a sullen lurch in his step. Ash got the feeling he hadn't been able to make it through Mount Moon in one day. Out of both respect and slight concern, he didn't even try to ask for a battle and instead raised a hand in greeting.

But they kept going and eventually rocks started to litter the smooth dirt they were walking on, until eventually the soil cleared to make way for the thick stone of the foot of the mountain. The trees faded away until he could crane his neck back and see the top of the mountain, impossibly high above them.

He was suddenly very glad the League had decided to make the tunnel. It might take a week to climb the dang thing, and just as long to go around.

Within a few minutes, they had reached the edge of tunnel. It stretched forward, an eery black hole. A few small craters were dotted around the outside, showing recent geodudes. Maybe he'd find one that seemed strong enough to keep. It took a fair while to train them up to be golems, but they were strong pokemon. And beside, it'd give him a reason to call Brock and then bug him for more training tips.

He shouldered his bag, sucked in a deep breath, and then plunged into the darkness of Mount Moon.

Ro grunted in distaste but Apep was, by nature, a nocturnal pokemon. His eyes gleamed in the dark as he scanned the ground and ceiling, hissing when Ash stepped too close to a hole or a wall. But once he made a turn and the light behind faded away, his eyes slowly began to adjust.

It was moments like this that he wished one of his pokemon could learn fire-type moves, but he could still see the twisting formations of stalagmites and stalactites, their edges sharp. Cracks littered the walls and he could see the blank eyes of paras and parasect gleaming from within, but everytime he stepped closer they disappeared.

The temperature dropped as well and the humidity surged, though it wasn't that bad. But the entire thing gave the tunnel a thoroughly creepy feeling. The evenly interspaced lights that the League had placed helped, though they were purposely heavily dimmed and tinted blue in order to not disturb the natural pokemon. He stumbled more times than he could count in the first hour, and his hands burned slightly with the scuffed skin.

Ro nosed against his leg and he sighed but recalled him, understanding that this was not at all what the pokemon was used to. Apep, at least, would burrow when it got too cold out, though never in any holes of this size.

He didn't see any other trainers, which was strange. There would normally be at least a few. He couldn't rely on Apep's ears, as he didn't have the best of hearing, relying more on his sense of smell. It was possible he had passed trainers in the dark and not even realized it, which was weird to think about.

It was also quite, the pressing silence of the mountain solid on all sides. The scuff of his boots against the rocks seemed overly loud.

At least until an explosion rocked him to his knees.

He gasped, air pushed from his lungs, forehead brushing the ground. Apep shot toward him, curling against his legs and tensing up to hiss threateningly at the darkness all around the pair of them.

Breath sucked its way back into his lungs and he slowly stood, eyes wide and unblinking. Dust fell from the ceiling and fluttered onto his shoulders, thick and heavy. The echoing sound of crashing rocks danced around him.

A cave-in had happened somewhere. Maybe a pokemon triggered it, maybe a trainer had tried to battle, maybe the mountain just decided to give up. Either way, he was turning out to have terrible luck.

He gathered Apep back up onto his shoulders, the snake tensed and ready. Inching backward, he found his way to the last lamp and immmediately ducked into a small niche, pressing his back against the wall. He was almost hidden from the path here in case it was a wild angry pokemon. Sighing, he stroked Apep and let his eyes adjust to the dim light.

Forcing himself to wait for ten minutes, he listened carefully to all the sounds around him. No other cave-ins sounded, just the chilly silence of the mountain. A singular event then, which meant it was probably human or pokemon triggered.

It had sounded from behind him, although he couldn't really be sure. That meant if he continued forward, he could still probably get out and then tell the Pokecenter on the other side of what happened, if new trainers coming in from the Pewter City side didn't already notice it and alert someone. The League would probably come later that day and clear it all up, though it might be a while before anyone noticed.

There hadn't been a lot of trainers on the path that day.

Apep snapped to attention, and his ears picked up footsteps. Maybe another trainer-

Before he could leave his hunched position in the niche, two people walked in front of him.

Two people wearing dark black clothing with a crimson blotch on their chest, one that glinted when it caught the light. He saw a glimpse of what it was.

A giant R was emblazoned across their chest.

Blood roared in his ears, blocking out everything that the Team Rocket members in front of him were saying. They pulled a sort of strange minecart with wheels instead of track on the bottom, full of oddly shaped rocks. His breath burned its way up his throat.

And then they were gone, disappearing out of his line of sight. Their footsteps echoed in his ears for far too long a time before that slipped away too, leaving silence.

Apep tilted his head at him, confused. He could barely find the words.

"That's Team Rocket, Apep. They want to capture pokemon. They take them from trainers and torture them and make them obey them and oh god they're here-" He could hardly breathe.

The ekans stiffened instantly and just when Ash thought he'd have to restrain him from darting after the two members, he leaned down and poked his pokedex with his snout. He leaned back up and stared deeply into Ash's eyes.

He understand after a moment. Pulling it out, he winced at the bright light before turning it down to the lowest setting, immediately pulling up contacts. He pressed Brock.

A much too cheerful ringtone bounced off of the walls, and he slammed his fist on the volume button, panting with fear. Could they have heard that did they hear that

Brock didn't pick up on the first call. He punched the redial, eyes wide.

After two rings, the screen opened up to Brock's smiling face, head tilted to the side. The gym shone behind him, much too bright.

"Hey, Ash - woah. It's really dark over there, give me a second to adjust - are you in Mount Moon?"

He gasped for a second, trying to force up the words, and Brock noticed something was wrong. "Are you okay-"

"Cave-in. At Mount Moon. I don't know what caused it-" or maybe he did? What if it was Team Rocket?

"Oh! Well, that's certainly strange. Hang on, I'll call the League-"

"And Team Rocket's here."

Brock stiffened, eyes flying wide. His jaw tensed with a steel Ash hadn't expected, eyebrows narrowing in abject fury.

"I just saw two of them pass my spot. I was hiding in case it was a wild pokemon that caused the cave-in and then they walked by me. I don't think they saw me but I don't know how I'll get out of here. They were wearing black but they had that red R on their chest and I think they might have caused the cave-in."

Brock honest to god growled when he finished, growing more and more tense with each word Ash said. His voice was sharp and hard, though the anger wasn't directed at him. "Ash. You can't hide in that hole. It was just luck that stopped you from being seen the first time. How far along are you in there?"

"About an hour and a half, which means I've got another three hours left. Brock, I haven't seen any other trainers yet, do you think-"

Brock cut him off. "Don't think about that. Focus on you. I want you to try and get out of Mount Moon, come back the way you came. Ro can help dig your way out of the cave-in if it's that way, but I'll be there by that time and the League will be right behind me. Whatever you do, don't let them see you. If they're staging this big of a mission, they're going to have someone higher up overseeing the thing. If one of them sees you, you run before they can get to you."

Ash sucked in a deep breath. "I have some black clothes. Do you think I should put them on? Maybe they'll think I'm one of them from a distance or something."

He nodded grimly. "Do that, but don't count on it. You can't fight them, Ash. I know the grunts might seem easy to attack but there are a lot more of them then there are of you. Be a hero to your pokemon first."

Brock straightened up, turning his head to the side. "I'll call the League and then head out there immediately. Onix can get past the cave-in and I'll find you."

And then he hung up, and Ash was left alone in darkness once again. It seemed malevolent, like a predator stalking its prey, but he shoved it away and focused on the plan Brock had given him.

Change into black clothes, try to disguise as one of the Team Rocket members. A last ditch effort.

Head back toward where he had come, even though that was the way the members had gone.

Break through the cave-in either with Ro or with Brock's onix.

Go back to the Pokecenter, laugh about it with his mom, and then wait for the League to arrest every single one of them and get their pokemon help.

Carefully, he released Ro in the space in front of him. He immediately shushed the nidoran as he rumbled at the darkness of the tunnel. Ro stared at him curiously, head tilted to one side.

"There's some bad people in this cave, Ro," he whispered as quietly as he could. "Their name is Team Rocket. They want to capture pokemon and make them obey their commands, even by torture. They'll… do bad things if they catch us."

Ro narrowed his eyes at every new word, blowing out air angrily. He stomped his feet, though immediately stopped when Ash gestured for him to be quiet.

"So we're going to go back to Pewter City. But there's been a cave-in, and I might need you to dig through the rock, okay? I'll bring you out once we reach the cave-in."

He waited until Ro nodded before recalling him, chest tight. It was just him and Apep now, and even that was about to change. He turned to his starter, who stared back with reflective golden eyes.

"I have to recall you, too. They'll be suspicious if they see a pokemon out, and they might recognize that I'm a trainer. I swear, I'll call you out the second we're safe. But I don't want you getting hurt."

Apep looked almost betrayed as he watched the pokemon disappear in a burst of scarlet light that blinked out of existence all-too-quickly and left him clutching a pokeball. But he couldn't watch Apep or Ro get hurt. Not when he could prevent it.

Slowly, he pulled off his backpack and used the light from his pokedex to find his black clothes. The pants were everyday pants while the shirt was a long sleeve undershirt meant for heavily cold days. It felt strange stripping down in the middle of the tunnel, cold air kissing his back. But then he was suited up and ready. His backpack, thankfully, was a dark navy blue, and so it blended in well. But his skin, while tan, almost glowed in the dark when compared to the black clothes. He shoved his hands in his pockets and ducked his head to hide his face. It was the best he could get.

Heart hammering a mile ahead of his body, he stepped out of the niche and into the tunnel.

Each step was hurried as he did a strange form of inching forward and rushing at the same time. He'd move quickly, pause, listen for noises, and then rush on. Every tap of stone against stone had him freezing and the barest rustle of strange pokemon ahead had him panicking.

But he was making it, moving along and along. At the thirty minute mark, when nothing happened, he started to relax, just a little bit. Not nearly enough to pull out Ro or Apep, but he moved quicker, nearly up to the same pace he had had coming in. Brock was coming, the League was coming, Team Rocket was going. He was going to leave here fine.

He promptly rounded the corner and saw two blurry shapes on the other side.

Freezing wasn't quite the apt term. Ash nearly ceased to exist.

It was two people, black clothing faded into the darkness around them. There was a light in between the two of them, chasing away a miniscule amount of shadows on the stretch of tunnel between them. The pair of Team Rocket members - Brock had called them grunts - were talking in low tones, but he couldn't hear it over his heart pounding in his ears. It was the two from before, still pushing the minecart between them. This time, though, it was empty, which meant they had put their pile of rocks somewhere behind them. He had been walking towards their base the entire time.

He had barely entertained the thought of running when both of them froze, noticing him for the first time. They stared at each other for a second.

Last ditch resort.

"Hey!" One of them shouted, voice gruff. Masculine, older than him. "What are you doing?"

He felt his chest squeeze as his mind raced. "I'm patrolling this side for any trainers who come in." He forced his voice as low as he could, trying to stand up straighter. They had to fall for it.

The grunts kept coming forward, jerking the minecart with them. He briefly considered fleeing again, but they kept coming closer until they were only ten feet away. One was taller with broad shoulders and thick arms. The other was thinner, but their hand was already resting on the pokeball on their waist.

"But there aren't any patrols for this mission. We caved in both sides of the tunnel to stop anyone from getting in. We were all there when that happened." The man spoke again, crossing his arms.

The other person, a female, stepped forward, two dark spots that were her eyes narrowing. "Also, where is your partner? We never travel alone. That's a pretty high rule on the list."

Everything was shattering around him and he felt his panic rise, high and breathy, up his throat. "He's just a little back there, wanted to check on something-"

"And you've got two pokeballs on your waist," the female added, voice colored with suspicion. "Unless you're very high up - which I rather doubt it, considering how you're acting - you'd only have one pokemon."

"Oh, this thing?" He touched Ro's pokeball. "It's empty, grabbed one off a trainer, you know how it goes-"

The male stepped forward, pulling a pokeball off his waist. The female copied him. "You're only wearing all black. There's no symbol on your chest."

They threw their pokeballs just as he started to run.

There were two shrieks of rage but he didn't care, too busying running. He couldn't trip he had to get out of there

A streak of black flashed in front of him and he screeched to a stop, hands flying up to protect his face. The pokemon screamed in front of him, flying on two blue-purple wings. A gaping black mouth edged in four glistening fangs yawned in front of him, topped with two furious eyes.

The golbat hissed again, flapping slowly. The wind from its wings couldn't match the bone-numbing chill settling over him.

Something hit his foot and he looked down to see a tan rodent a little above his thigh grinning fiercely at his side. Its teeth glinted brightly in the light, and its claws gleamed like swords. He could see orange sparks dancing between its teeth, a Hyper Fang growing in the back of its throat.

Team Rocket was here. They wanted his pokemon. They couldn't get them.

The grunts weren't there yet. With a burst of strength he didn't think he had, he kicked the raticate over and smacked the golbat out of the air. He sprinted down the tunnel, arms pumping, mind racing, legs pounding-

"Quick Attack, raticate!" The female voice bellowed.

Something slammed into the back of his knees and he crumpled, banging down onto the stone floor. He scrabbled, desperate for purchase, but the raticate casually walked over and stood on his back, claws resting on the back of his neck.

He froze.

The grunts walked over to either side of him, the golbat perched on the male's arm. There was a cold smirk on their faces he could hear in their voice as the female ordered the raticate off his back.

They each grabbed one of his arms, hauling him up into the air. He stumbled to his feet as they pulled him toward their minecart. They let go of him for just a second, grabbing his pokedex and his pokeballs.

The female noticed the instant he tensed as she mockingly held up the two pokeballs. "Only two? And yet you thought you could challenge the power of Team Rocket. I guess trainers get more and more stupid as the years go on."

With a ease that was almost insulting, the man grabbed him and dropped him into the minecart. A few rocks they had already collected dug painfully into his back, and as he grappled to sit up they shifted under his hand.

"Proton will want to see the last trainer left in this damn mine," the female joked as she grabbed the front of minecart. The man snorted as he gripped the back, and after a second, they both began to push.

The cart rumbled over the uneven stone as he curled up inside, trying to get his bearings. The rocks shook under his body and he grabbed one, feeling the hefty weight. If he could lunge up he could throw it at their faces, and mabe distract them long enough to grab his pokeballs.

Golbat landed sharply on his raised knees, teeth glittering with the darkness of Bite. "Drop it, kid," the man warned. "Or golbat will make you."

The rock clattered to the bottom of the minecart.

Brock had said that grunts were easy to defeat, that their only strength was in numbers. But two of them were able to steal his pokemon and then get him a one-way ticket to Proton, whoever that was. He was too weak to even protect his pokemon.

Golbat hissed at him as he shifted, but it just moved slightly as he straightened his legs out as far as he could. By pressed his feet and back against the walls, it helped the shaking a little bit.

He still had his backpack, but there wasn't anything he could use inside of it. But they had said that other trainers had been in here, and Proton had wanted to see him. He didn't think they wanted to kill him, at least not yet. Moving as subtle as he could, he slipped two rocks into his bag. He'd be thankful for any sort of weapon later, if he had to fight. And he would fight.

The ride seemed much too short. Within only a few moments they took a sharp turn, crunching over a thin layer of rock. More and more light shone over the top of the cart until it was almost as bright as outside and he was blinking rapidly to try and adjust his eyes to see what was going on.

The grunts kept pushing the cart, rumbling over the ground. He stared up, seeing a rock ceiling impossibly high up. It seemed like they were in some sort of cavern, if the size meant anything. The cart started to slow until they eventually came to a complete stop. A shout echoed over the seemingly large room.

"Hey! The rule was don't come back until you've got a full cart of fossils!" The voice was low, male, and tinged in a very recognizable form of anger.

"We know, sir," the female explained. "But-" she gestured to the male, who reached in and snatched up Ash's arms, pulling him out of the minecart.

He blinked once, struggling as he was dragged out. It took him a second to regain his balance but then he was on cold ground, being stared down by someone in another Team Rocket outfit.

It was altered slightly, though. His shirt was white, though the sleeves were still black. The crimson R glimmered in the middle of his chest. Blue-green hair spilled from the sides of his head above bright green eyes, and below that rested a furious scowl that flashed into a smile.

"Ah! A newcomer!" His voice was filled with something Ash couldn't place, tinged in dark anger. "Are you a trainer?"

He managed a short head bob, not willing to take his eyes off who he guessed was Proton. The man had five pokeballs gleaming on his waist.

"My name is Executive Proton, a leader of the great Team Rocket. I'm going to guess you have no interest in joining?" He was positioned in such a casual stance that it threw Ash for a second - this man was an executive of one of the most dangerous criminal groups in the region as well as talking to a restrained trainer whose captured he had ordered.

There was a second as he tried to string the words together in his mind. He shook his head, still mute.

Proton shrugged. He accepted the two pokeballs from the female, grinning wickedly. Ash let himself get a quick glance around the room.

It was much taller than it was large, and he could easily see all sides. Lights blared from every wall, and more grunts were just as common. There was an enormous table absolutely stuffed full with pokeballs, each being inspected by a few Team Rocket members. There were also piles upon piles of the strange rocks, though in the light he could see small white designs in them.

And worst of all was the last corner, in which over fifteen trainers were huddled together, wide-eyed and surrounded by wicked looking pokemon. Golbat, raticate, weezing, koffing, arbok, and one lone ekans, hissing softly while its tail rattled. More grunts were surrounding them as well, though Proton had a clear path to watch them.

But he wasn't going to be killed. He just had to wait until Brock came, and then he could get his pokemon back.

The female froze in her act of handing Proton his pokedex, eyes flicking over the small screen. Proton scowled thunderously at her, hand outstretched, and she coughed lightly before speaking up.

"Sir, this is showing signs of him having called someone less than an hour ago, though we don't know now who or when. But it was definitely recently and while he was in Mount Moon," She said rather hesitantly.

And hesitantly seemed like the right course of action. His expression dropped all pretense of calmness and the sneer that spread across his face could have stopped a raging gyarados. He snatched the pokedex from her hand, glaring at the screen. His eyes snapped up to meet Ash's.

"Who did you call, boy?" He said softly, almost gently. It was drenched in a fury to destroy mountains.

Ash couldn't force words up. He shook his head.

Proton carefully held his pokeballs up to eye level, tightening his fist around them. "I'd suggest you choose your words very carefully."

Apep. Ro. "Brock. I called Brock."

Proton swore furiously under his breath for a single second, fists clenched and shoulders hunched. Then he popped back up, a vicious smile burned on his face. "Well then." He checked the pokedex for a second, eyes flicking over the name on top. He turned to the trainers with his arms spread.

"I'm afraid we're going to have to change our plans a bit. You see, your little hero Ash here has decided to call a gym leader, who has most likely decided to contact the League. That means that instead of letting you all run free after we finish our operation, we're going to have to hold you as prisoners until the League decides not to attack us. But don't worry! Our first showcase to the League that we mean business has already chosen himself."

With a grin, he pulled a pokeball from his waist and tossed it on the ground. In a flash of crimson, a hypno appeared.

It was large, at least as tall as Ash himself. Its pendulum swung gently between its pinched fingers, and its sharp beak carried no expression except for dull blankness. It stared up at Proton, head tilted slightly to the side.

He nodded to the two grunts on either side of Ash, who released him and stepped back. He jerked, about to run, when Proton barked out, "Psychic!"

His vision gained a peculiar bluish tinge, shading everything a light cyan. He tried to run his eyes, tried to blink, tried to move.

He couldn't so much as twitch.

His mind immediately began to burn, pounding viciously behind his eyes. Human minds weren't meant to handle psychic-type moves, especially the more powerful ones like Psychic.

Hypno tilted its head again, eyes shining the same blue. Its pendulum clicked softly back and forth.

There was no noise from any of the trainers, not that he could see them anymore. But he still had full view of Proton, who hummed to himself a soft tune as he opened up his pokedex. With a few deft taps, he pulled up contacts and pressed Brock's number.

The same cheerful ringtone rang throughout the cavern. It picked up after the second ring, and Proton held it close enough to Ash's face to look like he was the one holding the pokedex.

"Ash?" Brock asked, but this time his screen was the one that was dark and Ash was in the light. The gym leader frowned and flicked the screen once, but nothing changed. "Did you get out?"

He couldn't move, couldn't even blink to try and signal that something was wrong. Useless again.

"Hello, gym leader!" Proton crowed, faux happiness dripping over his voice. "I believe I found your wayward trainer."

Brock stiffened, eyes finally catching onto the blue outline around Ash. "Executive Proton, I presume," he said almost evenly.

"Rock type master, I'm honored," Proton said flatly. There was something gleaming in his eyes as he gestured a grunt over to hold the pokedex, staring at Brock the entire time.

Brock narrowed his already thin eyes, the light from the pokedex washing out his face. There was only darkness behind him, the rough stone of the tunnel. He appeared to be moving, running even as he talked to Proton.

"I have a deal for you, Brock." Proton grinned, slowly moving the pokedex over until it showed the dozen and a half trainers crowded in a small corner. Several sucked in deep breaths, eyes widening, at the sight of Brock but they didn't otherwise react. "Twenty little trainers will be left in this room, safe and unharmed. We'll be gone of course, and you'll have to spend such a terribly long time making sure they aren't too traumatized."

Ash still couldn't move as the pokedex swung back over to him, Proton stepping closer. Hypno came into view of Brock, eyes glimmering the same faint cyan.

"Of course, if you continue to come here at much too fast a pace, I can't promise that all of the trainers will come out unharmed. It can be so difficult to tell when a stalactite could fall from the ceiling. Mount Moon is quite unstable."

Brock was silent, the pokedex shaking slightly as he switched hands. There was a pause that seemed to stretch on forever.

"I don't think you understand," Brock finally started, but Proton snapped him off, eyes grim and breaking.

"No, I don't think you understand!"

But Brock held up a hand once again, tapping a finger over the edge of his pokedex. The screen flickered once and Proton broke off, eyes narrowed furiously.

"This is my town, Proton, my city, my place. I protect it with me and my pokemon's lives and something as simple as Team Rocket will not be the thing to break it."

Maybe it was because he was frozen with both feet pressed against the ground and unable to focus on anything else, but he felt the slight rumble through the mountain before anyone else. It started softly but quickly picked up speed, shaking the piles of rocks on the other side of the room.

Proton trailed off a furious retort, frowning. His eyes narrowed.

A boom echoed through the cavern.

He whirled, facing the front of the cave. His hand flew to the other four pokeballs on his waist.

An onix barreled through the wall and burst into the room.

It bellowed, slamming its tail into the ground even as Brock ran in behind it, eyes narrowed and powerful legs flinging him into the room. Dozens of Ace trainers poured in behind them, hands ready on pokeballs and eyes narrowed.

The two teams stared at each other, the only sound the scrape of the onix's rocks against the ground. He could barely see the edge of the League members, eyes unwillingly focused forward on Proton.

"Well then," the executive said with a voice that could have froze ice. "You certainly didn't take your sweet time getting here."

Brock cut to the chase. "Let them go, Proton," he rumbled, voice sounding like an avalanche. "And maybe you'll get a nice pillow in your cell."

"I still have the advantage here, Brock, in case you've forgotten," he snarled. His fingers curled like claws, teeth bared like a savage pokemon. This was the Executive Proton, one of the leaders of Team Rocket.

At his words, grunts everywhere tensed up and gestured to their pokemon. Trainers stiffened as golbats landed on their heads, arbok wrapped tails around bodies, and raticates bared orange-spotted fangs.

Brock stomped his foot on the ground, seemingly in anger, eyes narrowed. An ACE trainer placed a hand on his shoulder, staring in his eyes. But once both of them straightened, there was a hard gleam in Brock's eyes and the ACE trainer stepped back.

The ground rumbled again, softer this time. But it wasn't the onix that was moving, as it was still frozen over the Team Rocket grunts, scarred rocks shining. Ash recognized it as the onix he had faced in his gym battle. Neither Brock or the Ace trainers had called out any other pokemon yet.

Proton didn't notice, eyes flicking down to Brock's pokeballs, gleaming on his waist. He took one step forward and Hypno's attention snapped to him, awaiting a command. Ash tried to twitch, tried to even blink his eyes, but Hypno's eyes gleamed slightly brighter and now it was almost painful to be frozen, muscles tensed but unable to be released.

"You are going to step out of this room. Brock is going to recall his onix. You are going to wait until every single one of us has teleported out, and only then can you come back in to gather your trainers."

He turned to Ash. "And just in case you don't follow our instructions, I'll leave a reminder. Hypno-"

The ground beneath his feet shook again, the stone quivering. He frowned, just for a moment, and promptly began to sink into the ground.

There were shrieks as the Team Rocket grunts began to do the same thing, the previously hard stone turning to quicksand beneath their feet. It happened instantaneously, and where standing opponents had been there was only screaming grunts sunk up to their shoulders in dirt.

Proton stayed quiet, listening as his members shrieked bloody murder, and opened his mouth.

Brock threw out two more of his pokeballs.

An enormous golem, the likes of which he had never seen before even on TV, burst to existence in a blaze of scarlet light. It roared, landing on the ground with an earthshaking boom. An equally large rhydon bellowed as it slammed its feet into the ground, earth shaking beneath it.

Ace trainers hurled pokeballs and out came more and more powerful pokemon. He couldn't keep track of them as they immediately began to attack the grunts' pokemon. Several tried to shout commands from their spot in the ground but a powerful electabuzz burst out with the move Screech, electricity flashing over its body.

Proton thrashed once, getting Hypno's attention. "Teleport!" He bellowed, and the pokemon touched his shoulder and they both disappeared.

To his horror, the Psychic didn't fade immediately. For a few, terrified seconds he stayed there, frozen, before he slumped like a puppet without its strings and took a shuddering breath.

A chameleon with its mouth full of broiling flames darted at him, only to lunge to the side at the last second and keep running. He shuddered, catching sight of the other trainers where they were being herded out of the room by Ace trainers.

But his mind burned and ached from the Psychic and he lost his battle with consciousness. The mountain shook beneath him as he collapsed.

* * *

Ash blinked once, eyes hazy and clouded. His movements rough, he tried to reach forward and wipe the sleep from his eyes.

Something pinned his arms to his sides.

He lunged up, glowing eyes flashing in his mind. Twisting and writhing, he fought until cloths fluttered away from their confined restraints over his limbs. They were cool and slick and he felt much too hot, forehead burning. The world swirled, white on white, as his eyes slowly adjusted.

The ceiling above him was white tile, stretching down to white walls and white floors. It gave a thoroughly sterile look, though the soft brown of the wooden desk cut into that slightly. There was a bedside table to his right, where a glass of water and a small lamp rested, though it was off.

There was also a man in the room.

He had light blue robes held loosely against his body, cut loosely around his elbows and ending at his ankles. A gold marker was embroidered on his left breast, a strange swirling shape that he couldn't pick out no matter how hard he looked. The man was tall, with a narrow figure that seemed to stretch him up to the ceiling. There was a quiet calmness about the man, one that reached out and soothed everything in the room.

"Peace, child," the man said. Even his voice was smooth, almost lilting. He took a step forward, raising his hands in surrender.

"I am a psychic, sent by the gym leader of Saffron City, Sabrina. My apologies for waking you. I am here to check the possible outcomes of having the move Psychic used on you. Because you were recently subjected to a psychic move, you were able to sense me delving into your mind."

He blinked once. This psychic had been sent by Sabrina, one of the most powerful psychic-type masters in the world. But there was something else he focused on- "What outcomes could I have?"

"Nothing damaging, I hope. Psychic is a rather powerful psychic move, but we're hoping that because it was used in a non-damaging way, there may be no consequences. The way the hypno used it more affected the muscles of your body than it did your brain. There was some finesse used - by controlling nerve impulses, it stopped you from being able to send commands to move certain parts, while still leaving unconscious movements open such as breathing, heart beating, and blinking."

Ash frowned. "But I tried to blink, and I couldn't."

The psychic nodded. "The key word there is tried. When you attempt to order your brain to blink, you cannot, but when you weren't focusing on it you still blinked. Let me put it this way - we have estimated that you were under Psychic for around five to seven minute. Your eyes would have suffered severe damage from being open for that long without blinking, but they have not."

He hadn't ever really studied psychic moves, given as he hadn't spent that long of studying at all. Poison types were weak to it, he knew that, but still, hearing the way the man talked about how they worked was strange and creepy, if he was being honest.

"I will go into you mind again, if that is acceptable? You will most likely feel a slight pressure behind your eyes, though it will not hurt. At the maximum, it will last for several minutes before fading completely."

Ash nodded, staring up at the man.

The psychic raised a single hand, lowering his eyebrows. A light blue flashed over his eyes, almost cyan.

He flinched and looked away.

But the man was right - after a few seconds there was some sort of soft feeling in his head. It was more of an itch than the burn Hypno had caused, though he guessed there was a reason for that. Hypno was used to doing that move on pokemon, which had stronger mental shields and abilities than humans.

The psychic frowned and his eyes flashed again, staining the brown coloring with the blue. His eyebrows lowered and he raised a second hand, twisting his fingers in a curious manner.

Ash couldn't meet his eyes but he stared at what he was doing, blinking his eyes. The itch was growing stronger but it still didn't hurt, just a gentle pressure. It didn't throb like a headache or a brain-freeze.

The psychic suddenly drew back, slipping his power carefully out of Ash's mind. His eyes returned to normal and his arms fell to his side. "Well, that is agreeable. You have no damages done to your mind - actually, you appear to have created very thin mental shields. They won't hold up to much, I'm afraid, and it only took me a couple more seconds to slide through, but a beginning of a defense is better than nothing. If you wish, you could came to Saffron City and seek Sabrina's help. But in the meantime, I will inform Nurse Joy of your clean mental health." He nodded once before slipping out of the room, robes rustling at his feet.

Ash blinked again as the man left, propping himself up on the pillows. He eventually started to recognize the desk and the instruments on it. It was the same he had seen in the Pokecenter when he had gotten his secondary poison antidote shock.

His hand fell to his waist. There were no pokeballs there. His mind lurched and he remembered Proton's hand tightening around them, a dark gleam in his eyes, threats snapping from his mouth-

A soft beeping reached him and he looked over to see a sort of machine standing next to him, a sensor pointed at his chest. It beeped gently, but as he stared at it and his heartbeat calmed, it grew quieter and then stopped.

The door clicked open and Nurse Joy popped her head in, pink ponytails swinging by the side of her face. Her eyes brightened upon seeing him awake, and she finished walking into the room. "Hello, Ash. Are you feeling okay?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I guess. Am I in Pewter? The Pokecenter, I mean?"

"You're in the Pewter City Pokecenter, specifically in the recovery ward. We didn't have very many injured trainers, many only from bumps and bruises from being jostled around while they were captured. They have all already healed. You've been sleeping for about ten hours, Ash."

He blinked. "What time is it?"

"Around 9 pm. Are you sure you are feeling okay? I have a few visitors who would like to see you."

His hand fell to his waist again. "Where's my pokemon? Proton took my pokeballs. Wait- he teleported out, did he still have my-"

Nurse Joy raised a hand, a sympathetic expression on your face. "We found your ekans and nidoran with the other trainers' pokemon. They are perfectly fine, but we did not keep them in here without in case they disrupted any last healing you had to do. Your pokedex, however, was lost in the attack. We don't believe Proton was holding it - you said he teleported out? - but he might have been. It may have also been crushed by the falling rock."

"When can my pokemon come here? I want them here," he demanded, though he instantly shook his head and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it, dear. I'll bring your pokemon to you as soon as you talk to these visitors. They need to get your side of the story in order to figure out what happened, as well as ask you some questions." She walked over to his side and prodded at the machine, electing several soft beeps as she pressed buttons. The scanner lit up and gave her a list of something on its screen, and she nodded happily.

"Who are the visitors? Do I know them?" He asked, fully pulling himself up to a sitting position.

"I believe you do," she said with a smile, walking back out of the room. "I'll grab them as soon as I can - they might still be talking to someone else."

And then she left, the door swinging shut with a click behind her. The machine hummed softly in the quiet left behind.

Who could try and visit him? The only person he could think of would be his mother, or Professor Oak, but they were weeks away. The professor had his alakazam but he only used her in times of real need.

It did take her a while to find his visitors. He spent his time twiddling his thumbs, staring around the room. His pokedex was gonen, which would be severely detrimental to his journey. It was not only his number one source on getting information on pokemon and how to train his, but it was also his trainer identification and the thing that let him be able to stay in Pokecenters for free.

Apep and Ro were okay. He consoled himself of that, bumping his head against the wall behind him. They hadn't even gotten in the fight, which Apep would be furious at, but that also meant that they hadn't been hurt.

The door swung open.

He sprang to attention as two people walked in, each bearing a different item in their hands.

The first was Officer Jenny, armed with a notepad and a pen. She inclined her head with a gentle smile as she immediately walked over to perch to the side of his bed, her blue hair bouncing.

Brock ducked his head as he came through, two pokeballs clenched in tight fists. There was something raw etched on his face, shoulders hunched, though he managed a grin at Ash.

The gym leader nodded his thanks to Nurse Joy, who closed the door behind the two of them. Brock settled onto the chair in the corner of the room, pokeballs set to the side and a thin black device balanced on his knees.

"Hello, Ash," Officer started. Her voice was deeper than the one he had met before and she had far more muscles on her shoulders, though there was only warmth in her voice. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Um. Yeah. A psychic came and checked me out, and I'm doing just fine."

She chuckled. "There's no need to be scared. You did the League and I a great service today, Ash. You managed to get the League there to capture a large portion of Team Rocket's forces before they had time to run away or steal anything. Without you, we might have been alerted to the cave-in tomorrow, and by that time Team Rocket would have already been gone."

A tinge of frustration and annoyance entering her voice. "But because of us, you were also attacked by an executive's pokemon. There is no way I can apologize enough for that, and for that I am sorry. If Brock had not gotten there just in time, you could have been seriously injured."

Ash tried to say "It's no problem," but Jenny cut him off. "This is a greater problem then you realize. Executive Proton did escape from Mount Moon and he is now on the loose once again. But now he knows that you have connections to the League, and could possibly be used as either bait or a trap. That is something I don't want to risk, so I am asking to use you as a… sort of cover story."

He blinked. That hadn't been what he was expecting. To be honest, he was worried about the revoking of his trainer's license, especially with his pokedex gone. "What do you mean? Like in a news article, or something?"

Jenny shook her head. "Not quite. You see, I have - as a police officer - connections to the League and their crime fighting section. I may not be the most important Officer Jenny in the world but my word holds some weight to it. There is a bounty on all of the executive's heads. They are - not to brag - rather large sums of money, but so far I haven't had anyone even trying to hunt them down. So what I'd like to do is use you as a kind of poster boy, detailing what Proton does to trainers. I won't use your name, but a detailed description of what happened and a few words from you would be greatly appreciated. The League will be able to post this across most forums and get it a lot of attention."

Ash didn't have to think about it very long. "Sure. I'm not quite sure what I'd say, but I'll do it."

Jenny grinned widely. "Perfect! I've collected a basic story from the other trainers I talked to, but would you mind telling me how you got caught? Brock's using my device to record everything to more formalize it and write a report down, so don't worry about speaking too fast."

Brock fumbled a bit as she looked over at him, but nodded and pointed to a slim recording device sat on his knee.

So he started to talk, from the very beginning. The second he heard the break in until he passed out. Jenny winced heavily when he described what Proton did to him, and Brock's head sank lower and lower until it was nearly sitting between his legs. He shot up as he remembered something, eyes wide.

Ignoring Jenny's confused look, he lunged over the side of the bed and grabbed onto his backpack. Pulling it back up onto the bed, he opened it up and stuck his hand inside.

Sure enough, there were two of the strange rocks. He pulled them out and set them in front of of Jenny. "I grabbed these two when I was in the minecart. I really don't know what they are."

Jenny frowned for a moment before her eyes cleared and she perked up. Even Brock raised his head. "Ah! Those are fossils. Using incredible technology that has only been discovered recently, we are able to revive pokemon that lived millions of years ago. It's a very shaky process, and we've have limited success, but we're getting better. I believe Brock here has reserved something or other." She scowled. "Team Rocket's had their eye on fossils for a while but this is the first time they've made a move toward them, bastards."

Jenny held up the fossils, examining them quickly for cracks or mars in their lumpy surface. "I'll take these back with me. Could be used as evidence. Continue, please."

So he slipped back into the story, feeling almost strangely detached. There wasn't much left but he still described being frozen by the Psychic and how Proton had teleported out of Mount Moon with Hypno. There was definitely not a bit of sheepishness as he told them he passed out because of the strain Psychic had put on his mind.

Jenny coughed, digging through a side pocket and pulling out a pad of paper. She flipped to the third page, eyes flicking over a few questions written down before she came in the room. "Did you happen to see, hear about, and/or learn the identities of any of his other pokemon?"

Ash shook his head.

"Any idea as to the location he teleported to?"

Another shake.

She clipped her pen to the top of the pad, slipping it into a pocket. "Well then. I'm finished up." At a motion from her, Brock switched off the recording device and handed it over to her, where she slipped it into another pocket.

"We don't have too much of a reward for you, Ash, but there is something."

He perked up as Jenny withdrew a slim black case from where she had set it on the ground, holding it out. He took it gently, marveling over the shiny surface. There was a small button, and he hesitantly pressed it.

A screen snapped to life, proudly displaying a trainer identification. Ash Ketchum.

"I know we aren't supposed to replace pokedexs after they've been lost, but hell, it wasn't your fault. Kid, if we meet again, it better be under more pleasant circumstances. Brock, I'd like to meet with you once you've finished talking, but don't worry about time."

And then she turned and left the room, closing the door behind her.

He turned to face Brock, who looked more depressed than he had thought the gym leader could look.

"What's wrong?" He asked, eyebrows lowering. "Did you get hurt? What about Onix? I didn't see her - did Team Rocket get her-"

Brock held up a hand. "No. Onix was underground long before we came in the room - she was the one to use Sand Tomb below the Team Rocket grunts. I would have done it sooner but she was still figuring out where the grunts were, as to not get trainers trapped as well. She did it perfectly," he finished. There was a slight smile on his face.

"But then what's wrong?"

Brock sighed. "Ash, I was the one to tell you to try and get out of there. If you had stayed where you were, we could have gotten in and out without anyone getting threatened by Executive Proton, which is something I could go my whole life without happening. Hell, if I had even told you to head towards Cerulean instead of Pewter, you could have used gotten a little blip in your news that said a dangerous group of criminals had been caught in Mount Moon. None of this would have happened."

"But Brock, I'm fine! Sure, I slept for a few hours-"

"Ten hours," the teen muttered sourly.

"-but I feel fine! My pokemon are okay and we got all of the trainers out. All of Team Rocket's pokemon can be rehabilitated and sent to a good trainer or the wild. We'll catch Proton next time, don't worry!"

"It's not that, Ash!" Brock nearly shouted. "A trainer died in Mount Moon!"

Ash stiffened.

"Joey Marvil. Just an eleven-year-old minding his own business when he was attacked by Team Rocket grunts. They demanded his pokemon. He said no. So they unleashed their pokemon and beat the living shit out of him. In the end, he was captured and his pokemon was taken. His injuries were so bad he bled out before he even made it to Proton. He had six pokemon on him, but only five were taken. He had his sixth, a vulpix, out to light the way through the tunnel. Even when he was being attacked by pokemon, he managed to break its ball so the vulpix could escape. But it still seems like the grunts found it. We found several vulpix tails in the tunnel, but couldn't find it in the pokeballs the grunts collected."

Ash couldn't say anything, let alone try and comfort Brock.

"So all I can think is what about if I was five minutes later, how much of that would have happened to you? To all of the other trainers? To all of their pokemon?"

"Sure, we saved most of them. But someone out there, two parents grieve over their lost child and a vulpix is slowly bleeding out in the deepest cavern of Mount Moon. And the man who did it is still out there."

Brock stopped, voice raw. Ash found words flying up his throat.

"I'll find that vulpix, Brock." The words were filled with more steel than he thought he had. "I'll find the vulpix and give it the home it deserves, and then I'll hunt down Proton and give him the home he deserves."

Eyebrows furrowing, Brock tried to speak. But Ash was on a roll.

"I'm going through Mount Moon tomorrow, the second I get a clean sheet from Nurse Joy. Then I'll save that vulpix and help it, Brock. I can do it."

There was a pause, before Brock let a small smile slide through. "I don't doubt that you could. But don't go after Proton, Ash. He's too dangerous. Leave it to the League, who can get him locked up without risking lives."

Slowly, the gym leader stood. He extended his hands, offering Ash two pokeballs. "Here they are. From what I understand, they've been briefed on what happened so you don't have to try and explain what happened to them."

Ash thanked him profusely as he took his pokeballs.

"Come see me tomorrow before you leave, okay?" Brock said, before leaving the room. His shoulders stayed hunched the entire time.

Ash started to promise but the door swung shut, snapping closed with a soft click. He was alone in the room once again. But not for much longer, as he readied the two pokeballs.

Apep and Ro appeared in a burst of scarlet sparks on the ground, immediately tensing and looking all around them. The second they looked up the bed and saw him, tucked between the blankets, they lunged.

Ro clambered onto the chair and made a leap onto the bed, his weight lifting Ash an inch into the air as he landed. Apep shot up the side of the bed, using the post to snap forward and press against Ash's cheek.

He stroked each of their heads, tears building in his eyes. "I'm so sorry, guys."

"I'm so sorry."

* * *

Ash woke up far too early to be normal. Bright blue flashed behind his eyes as he forced his breath to slow, heart beating powerfully in his chest. There was no light from the hidden overhead bulb, and the window to the outside was pitch black. He looked over to the bedside table, where someone had refilled his glass of water. Grinning, he grabbed it and drank it all down. It was slightly warm from having been sitting in his room overnight, but it still soothed his throat.

His pokedex was sitting right next to it. He grabbed it and checked the time, eyes narrowed.

3:47 am.

He normally woke up at six-ish.

Apep stirred slightly, yawning from his position curled over Ash's chest. His head was tucked inside of his coil, tail slipped on the outside in order to be able to warn off predators by rattling it. He stopped moving, still holding the pokedex, and eventually the ekans settled back down.

Ro's eyes had shot open the second he had moved, though he didn't get up. Red eyes glowed slightly in the darkened room, though his barbs stayed below his skin and his posture was relaxed. He was slowly calming down more and more in the mornings, though he still woke up at the first movement.

"Go back to sleep, Ro," he whispered, reaching for to stroke the head of his nidoran, who was curled up by his feet. "I'm just checking the pokedex for some things."

He closed his eyes, ears falling back down from their perked position. The nidoran eventually fell back into a slumber.

Ash sighed softly, brushing his fingertips against Apep's scales. They were warm, though that was probably because the snake had stolen his body heat. He bet that the snake would love to have a vulpix on the team to keep him warm.

The vulpix.

It was lost in Mount Moon, possibly heavily injured. There was no telling where it could be, and now that he was thinking about it there was a very small chance he would actually be able to find it in the deep caverns of Mount Moon. His only way of finding it would be to comb through every area.

But he had promised Brock, and he would find that vulpix. An innocent pokemon like that didn't deserve to suffer.

He pulled up the pokedex, going back to his individual pages for Apep and Ro. There was basic knowledge on there, and he smiled as he noticed a few extra notes. Professor Oak took new trainers under his wing every month and tried to give every single trainer a pokedex because of one amazing feature - their ability to collect data. By just owning an ekans and a nidoran, his pokedex collected data on them and tried to learn more about their species. Of course, for the most common species like pidgey, rattata, and spearow there wasn't much else to learn, but most trainers got at least a few notes on every pokemon they collected. And Professor Oak used all of it.

He still remembered the moment that Professor Oak had realized that one of his trainers had caught a dratini and his pokedex was taking notes on one of the rarest pokemon in Kanto. The man's celebration had been heard all throughout town and continued on for several years as the dratini grew and evolved.

Ekans, of course, were common, but simple little things he learned could help take down Team Rocket. He still remembered the arbok and ekans the grunts had used, and if he learned a technique to stop them easily, he would be able to fight back against the criminal organization that had hurt so many trainers and pokemon.

He scanned over the page, but nothing new had been added. Just a few facts about sluggishness when cold, nocturnal eyes, and slow growth. Ro was much the same, though he had checked their page only two days ago. There really hadn't been enough time to discover another fact on them.

So instead, he settled deeper into his bed and pulled up the search bar. He'd find out all he could about Mount Moon once again, and maybe even find a map. He wouldn't jump in unprepared again.

By the time he glanced up at the time again, it was six. Yawning softly but fully awake, he nudged Ro with his foot. The nidoran popped awake, glaring softly at him while he lumbered to his feet. His barbs extended in a sort of stretch, though they retreated the next second. He inched closer to the side of the bed, searching for the best place to jump down on.

Apep ignored the first few pokes, so Ash pushed him off of his chest. The snake hissed, annoyed, but shook himself a few times and slithered off the bed.

Ash got up as well, giving his legs a few moments to catch up. He had slept for nearly sixteen hours yesterday when he was used to about seven hours, and he felt almost rubbery as he slowly walked around.

But he smiled at the thin beams of light escaping over the edge of the horizon as he checked the contents of his bag, noticing nothing missing. There were a few shards of rock from where the fossils had chipped, but he kept them inside. A sort of souvenir, he guessed. Although it was from a pretty crappy experience. He grabbed a change of clothes and put them on quickly.

The door was unlocked, so he let Apep crawl up his side and latch himself firmly around the waist. Honestly, the snake was pampered.

He pushed the door open and was greeted with a hallway just as sterile as the room he had been in, all white tiles. There were two more doors on either side, presumably more recovery rooms for trainers and pokemon alike. Each door was marked with a green paper that read 'unoccupied'. He had a yellow one on his that said 'nearly recovered'.

Walking down the hallway, he took a sharp turn right and found himself at another door, which he pushed open. It emerged behind Nurse Joy's desk.

He squeaked as she spun around to face him, eyes narrowed. But her expression cleared and brightened as she recognized who he was, scowl melting into a warm smile. "Ash! I didn't expect you up for a bit. What are you doing here?"

"I was coming to find you, actually. Am I clear to go? I mean, like back on the route as a trainer?"

Her lips were pursed, but she nodded. "Technically, yes. You have a clean bill of both psychic and physical health, and your pokemon are in tip-top shape. But I was hoping you might be convinced to stay another day just to be absolutely sure that you are recovering mentally from what happened, Ash. Is there any way I could get you to stay - baring locking you in your room, of course?"

He winced. "No, Nurse Joy. I have to leave. Brock said there's an injured vulpix in Mount Moon and I want to go save it. I don't want it to die in there."

"I guessed you would say that." She sighed. "Is there anything else I can do for you then, dear?"

He nearly shook his head before a thought sprung to him. "Actually, can I have a Mount Moon flashlight? The one the League created?"

She nodded, walking out from around her desk and carefully leading him toward a small gate that released him back into the main portion of the Pokecenter. Nurse Joy headed toward another desk on the other side of the room, one with helpful things in boxes all around. Ash saw potions, revives, rope, pokeballs, and even three max revives protected under a glass case. Gym leaders got them for free in order to be able to heal their pokemon up for the next gym battle, but they were ridiculously expensive for regular trainers to buy, nearly the price of eight regular potions.

Nurse Joy leaned under the counter and pulled out a thin black flashlight, one with a cheerful 'League approved and made!' stick on the front. She peeled it off and offered it to him. "That'll be thirty dollars, though extra batteries are five for two."

He dug through his bag until he had thirty-five dollars, handing it over to her. There was a hook on the edge of the flashlight that allowed it to be hooked on a trainer belt, which he did so. The batteries were dumped in his bag.

"Well, dear. I hope you have a much better experience going through Mount Moon, and do try and stay out of trouble." She walked back over to her desk, smiling gently at him and waving goodbye.

"I'll try, Nurse Joy." And then he left the Pokecenter, the morning breeze glancing off his clothes.

Brock had wanted him to visit him before he left and he was definitely going to check in with the gym leader. He walked quickly toward the gym, having easily memorized the path after spending a week heading straight there every morning. Only a few people were out and he distantly remembered that it was a Monday, and most people were at their work. That explained the silence settling over the town.

He paused right before the door, checking the time on his pokedex. It was only 6:30, and Brock's gym opened at around nine. Was there a chance he had left it open for Ash to visit, or would he have to wait.

Luck was on his side as he knocked on the door, and after a moment the electronics kicked in and it swung open. The lights were on inside, showcasing the still incredibly impressive arena. He walked inside, jumping forward to avoid the door catching on his heels. Ro grumbled at it.

Ash walked in, looking around. It took him a second but he spotted Brock sitting in his usual position rather close to the door, near where the referee stood and commanded over the matches.

As he got closer, Brock heard his footsteps and stood up. He seemed to have gotten a full night of sleep, though light bags still circled under his eyes. "Hello, Ash. Are you going to Mount Moon after this?"

He smiled. "Yes. I'm going to find that vulpix."

Brock sighed, but there was a light grin playing over his lips. "I knew you were going to say that, so I'm going to tell you everything we know." There was a pokedex in his hand, a light grey one that looked made of much, much higher tech than the one Ash had around his waist. Probably a fancy League sanctioned one that hadn't been released to the public yet, and he found he was slightly jealous.

"She's female and a juvenile. Definitely not a baby but not an adult either, though Joey's pokedex said that she was pretty powerful. Her known moves are Ember, Quick Attack, Tail Whip, and Will-O-Wisp. She was working on Flamethrower, though she hadn't mastered it yet. Joey gave her a TM, Energy Ball, which is a grass-type move. He noted that she's pretty headstrong normally, but gets a bit skittish in battles against larger pokemon. Apparently, he caught her pretty early on in his journey and they had bonded well." Brock frowned, scrolling down. "We found several patches of blood as well as-" he sucked in a deep breath "-several vulpix tails. They appeared to be bitten off by a raticate using Hyper Fang, though we aren't positive."

There was no offer for pictures, and Ash was very glad. "Is there any way you know where she went?"

Brock shook his head. "No. Our only guess is that she stayed off of the main path as she probably heard us or Team Rocket grunts walking along there, so she might have gone in the lower cave system. She'd probably be trying to find a way to the outside but we don't know where she might be other than that."

"Okay." He nodded his head. "I've got the whole day to find her. I'll make sure she's safe, Brock."

There was a rueful smile on his face. "You've already promised me that, Ash. I don't doubt it. But still be careful when you find her - she's going to be very scared and might attack out of fear. Try your hardest not to fight back too had, or else she might never trust you."

Ash nodded. He shook the gym leader's hand and turned to have, but something niggled in his mind. "Hey Brock? I just have one question."

Brock gestured for him to go on.

"I couldn't see that well, but I could have sworn there were a few pokemon from the abra line in the fight, from the Ace trainers. Why did you guys just teleport in inside of running all the way through Mount Moon? Would it have been so much faster, even though it would have taken a few trips?"

"See, well." Brock frowned, hunting for the right words. "Teleporting is a tricky business. Take, for instance, you're trying to land a paper ball in a trash can, okay? If it makes it in, you teleported correctly."

"For pokemon, there is one major factor of teleporting correctly; if they have been there before. If, say, you asked a kadabra to teleport you to a Pokecenter from a previous town that it had already seen, it had already been at, and it had already sensed the psychic energy there, that would be like dropping the paper ball directly into the trash can. The only way it could miss would be because of outside circumstances, like attacking pokemon or incredible fagitute. But let's say the pokemon hadn't been there before. That's like throwing the ball from several feet away. Yes, there's a chance you could hit it, but there's also a very high chance you would miss."

"Now, several of our Ace trainers had powerful enough psychic pokemon to transport a fair chunk of our forces directly into Mount Moon. But their pokemon hadn't ever been there before, as psychic types are found in the more far away reaches of Kanto. So already it was going to be difficult to try and teleport there. Now realize that the tunnels of Mount Moon are rather small. That shrinks the size of the trashcan down to a cup. A single error could have us teleport inside of the mountain, in the rock, where things would have gotten bad fast. Teleportation is only a truly safe option when the pokemon has been there before."

Ash blinked. Well, that definitely made sense. He had really not done enough research on psychic pokemon. "Thanks."

Brock scratched Ro's head gently, who rumbled happily and pressed his nose into the man's palm. Apep hissed softly but Ash just flicked his nose, a grin on his face. Prideful little bugger.

They said their goodbyes and then Ash left, letting the electronic doors swing shut behind him. The sun was almost halfway over the horizon now, casting a warm golden glow over the buildings of Pewter City. The stones of the cobbled street seemed to shine under his feet as he walked toward Route 4.

It was time to do this once again. He could almost guarantee he wouldn't run into any trainers on his journey through it, except for maybe when he got out on the other side. Even rumors of Team Rocket were enough to keep people away, and when Jenny released her report and the new bounty papers, trainers would definitely keep their distance from Mount Moon for a couple of days. While it would be annoying to have a lack of people to train against, it would be nice to be able to train his pokemon all the harder.

He didn't quite know what Nurse Joy had told the two of them, but there had been a steely glint in both of their eyes. To be honest, he couldn't wait to see what they threw into their training sessions now.

Once again, he stepped onto the graveled path of Route 4, feeling the crunch under his boots. The shrubs still gleamed on the side of the road.

He took Apep off from around him almost immediately, ignoring the snake's annoyed hiss. "Keep me from crashing, okay guys? I want to check over something." Ro stepped closer to his legs, subtly pushing him a little farther away from the side of the route.

Ash pulled out his pokedex, flicking up the news section. His mom would probably have a fit as he hadn't checked it in over a week, but he wanted to know now whether the League had released the report. He couldn't lie - he was very curious to see how they released Proton's new bounty.

There wasn't anything up except for two pokemon sightings - a large swarm of ariados had been spotted around Fuschia City and the League warned people away from Route 25, as a rhyhorn had evolved recently by itself and had been hunting down the rest of its herd. Possible violence could occur if trainers tried to battle it before it could figure out its strength with the other members of its herd.

But nothing else. He sighed but slipped it back on his belt, patting Ro on the head and earning a happy thrum in response.

The forty-five minute route faded away quickly and once again he stared up at the imposing colossus of Mount Moon, solid grey stone stretching up to the sky. There was a small smile on his face.

Here he goes again.

The gaping opening of the tunnel was pitch black but once he pulled out his flashlight and flicked it on, it switched to a gentle grey. The League had designed the flashlight to be similar to the lights they had already put in the mountain, the same dim and blue shade, though the flashlight was a bit stronger.

He walked in, trying to push confidence into his stance. To his surprise, both Apep and Ro rushed in, Apep going ahead of his and Ro keep the area behind. A chuckle sprang to his lips. Now he had two bodyguards who seemed quite determined to keep him safe within the mountain.

The darkness crept in on either side and behind him, but the path in front was reasonably lit up by the flashlight. It was so much better this time around - he cursed his yesterday self for convincing himself that no, he didn't need a flashlight! That's what novice trainers did after all!

He was still a novice trainer, and by Arceus, he was going to use the damn flashlight.

Within the first couple of minutes, he could see evidence from the cave-in. There were scattered piles of rocks and the walls were heavily scarred and broken. But it seemed stable enough and he walked through quickly.

The wild pokemon were back. Paras openly walked across the path instead of hiding in the walls, though they scuttled back when his flashlight fell over them. Geodude glared at him from their position on the ground, though they didn't bother him if he didn't bother them. He could hear the high-pitched click of echolocation as dozens of zubat rustled together up on the ceiling. There was one sandshrew he was sorely tempted to catch, but it immediately dug itself into the ground when he got too close.

About an hour in, his flashlight caught sight of something slumped on the side of the path. He jerked forward, landing on his knees. It was purple-black, and as he turned it over he could see that it was a zubat.

But a terribly burnt zubat.

All of its fur was either singed or burnt off, its wings covered in a thick coat of ash. One of its fangs was blackened, and its feet were peeling.

He grabbed a potion from his bag and dumped it over the pokemon, watching burns stitch themselves back together before his eyes. The fur would take up to a week to grow back and its fang might fall out, but it would survive. He hurriedly stood and backed away, not wanting to be that close when it woke up.

It slowly raised its head, screeching softly to use echolocation. After a second, it must have sensed Ash, because it flapped its wings and took off. It flew back up to the ceiling to nest with its family, though the movement obviously pained it. The pokemon was resilient, if nothing else.

But he didn't know of any pokemon in Mount Moon that could use fire-type moves. There were clefairy of course that could use Metronome, but stereotypes aside, fairy type pokemon were very docile and only attacked when threatened. To have only one zubat attack the most powerful pokemon in the mountain didn't make any sense.

So left only one pokemon that was currently wandering the caverns with fire type energy burning beneath her skin.

The vulpix was close.

The zubat had been injured, perhaps not recently, but it certainly had been less than two hours ago. After attacking the pokemon, the vulpix would probably have fled deeper in the mountain to avoid attracting the rest of the zubat to attack her.

So he readied his flashlight and walked on, keeping Apep and Ro close to him. The vulpix was powerful and scared.

Fifteen minutes later, he found a crack in the stone. It had widened over the years, forming a side path that probably led to the lower caverns of Mount Moon. Trainers were warned from going on these paths as the chance of getting lost was very real, and the League didn't yet have a surefire way of finding lost trainers.

But that was the most likely route that the vulpix would have gone on, so he determinedly shined his flashlight into the path and moved forward.

It was a rather tight fit, and he had to turn sideways and squeeze through in order to be able to get through. Apep had no problem and though Ro grumbled in annoyance, he was able to get through with minimal effort.

They walked on, stepping carefully. The humidity rose startlingly high the deep they walked, the walls slicked with water. He had heard stories of underground lakes holding strange pokemon and wondered if they were getting close to finding one.

There were more signs of wild pokemon here, small craters from geodude and slashes in the stone from sandshrew claws. A few mushrooms planted by paras showed up and even a handprint in the wall from a graveler showed up, which Ash was relieved to find very old. He had heard rumors of a monster golem that wandered the halls of Mount Moon, preying on hapless trainers. He didn't really believe it, but the story had kept him up at night when he was much younger.

There were also no lamps, so they only had to rely on his flashlight to be able to see what was in front of him. Apep nudged him when he almost stepped into a wall, his nocturnal eyes gleaming in the dark.

But it came as a bit of a surprise to all of them when the path in front of them started to light up.

Ash frowned, stepping forward. Apep titled his head to the side, sticking his tongue out. Ro grumbled, a few of his barbs sliding out. The glow was coming from around a corner in the path, shaded a light yellow and orange. Almost like fire.

Hope rising impossibly high, he walked the last few steps and peeked his head around the stone.

Standing in the middle of the path, head whipping back and forth, was a vulpix.

Ash barely hid his gasp in, scanning over the pokemon.

She had the lustrous red fur vulpix were known for, neatly brushed back over her body. Her eyes were a light grey, the pupils huge and adorable. Inside of her mouth gleamed a thin ball of fire, lighting the path up with flickering yellow light.

But that was where the good things ended.

Vulpix had one tail when they were born. Within the first week it doubled, then doubled again in a couple of days. By the time they were a month old, they had six thick, beautiful tails that they used to release excess heat.

This vulpix had three tails.

Her back was covered in scars, including three terrible ones where her tails should have been. He could see the fang marks from the raticate carved over her fur, the marks white. But the strangest thing was that the wounds seemed to be almost cauterized, though they should have still been bleeding or maybe scabbed at this point. There was another cut along her front leg, curving up to her shoulder. But he couldn't pull his eyes away from the three missing tails, the scars bright.

At least until she caught sight of him.

Her eyes widened for a second before they narrowed furiously. She settled into a battle stance, teeth bared.

He stepped fully out into the path, raising his hands in the sign of peace. There was an empty pokeball on his belt but he didn't reach for it, moving slowly and sitting down. "Hey, girl," he said soothingly, keeping his voice low.

She didn't move, but she also didn't attack him.

"I'm here to help. You've been really hurt by Team Rocket and I want you to get healed, okay? I know you're scared and you don't know what to do, but let me help you. I swear, I'll do everything I can do get you help."

She snarled deep in her chest, shaking her head. The fire in her mouth died slightly as she sucked in an enormous breath, staring at him with narrowed eyes.

Ro jumped in front of him just as she spat a wall of fire at him.

The flames roared, slamming into Ro's back as the nidoran grunted with pain. Ash could feel the heat rising to burning temperatures even as the fire slowly died, leaving him and Ro in a darkened tunnel.

He stroked Ro, wincing at the blackened marks on his back, the purple skin hidden beneath thick layers of soot and burns. Digging through his backpack, he pulled out another potion from his rapidly dwindling stash and dumped all of it on Ro, who rumbled contentedly as the burns retreated beneath his skin. Ash brushed away the soot, eyes wide.

Brock had said that the vulpix hadn't mastered Flamethrower yet. But the amount of fire he had seen could only be compared to a full power Inferno, one of the strongest fire-type moves pokemon could learn.

He stood back up, staring wide-eyed at the direction the vulpix had fled to. It was deeper into the tunnel but he could still see a gleam of light, from where she had gone to, the only way he could find her.

"Come on guys! We have to go!" He urged, starting to run down the tunnel. Apep and Ro raced on both sides of him.

They ran through the stone, his flashlight's beam jerking wildly with his lumping arms. But the glow from the vulpix grew stronger and stronger as he raced on, and he prayed he was getting closer.

She had been so scared, and using that amount of power - no matter how she got it, he was still puzzling that out - would have exhausted her quickly. If she passed out, there was no telling what the wild pokemon would do to her.

His ears perked up as a quiet shriek of pain raced through the tunnel of him. It had to be the vulpix. Was she being attacked? He gritted his teeth and picked up speed, forcing his legs to move faster. The light grew stronger, flickering wildly.

He exploded around another corner and found the vulpix once again, but this time she was scared.

She had run into a niche, thinking it was another corner. But now he frowned - why didn't she just run out? Her eyes had flicked up to him as he had rounded the corner, so she knew he was there - so then why didn't she leave and kept running?

The answer came quickly.

With the humidity so high, water had condensed on the ceiling of the niche, slowly dripping down. A drop fell in front of the vulpix, and she hissed at it, backing up as far as she could go with her back pressed against the wall.

She was scared of water. It made sense - she was a fire type and had an inherent weakness to it. But a few drops would, at most, make her uncomfortable. It shouldn't trigger this response of fear.

A drop of water landed on her back.

The vulpix shrieked again, collapsing on the ground. Steam hissed from her back and though she struggled to her feet the next second, she looked ready to pass out.

Ash immediately leapt forward and stood over her, covering her body with his back. Water splashed onto his back, freezing and horribly soaking through his clothes, but it didn't land on her. She trembled violently as more drops landed around the two of them, curling into the tiniest ball that she could. After a long moment, she looked up at him with an unreadable expression, eyes wide with fear.

"Please let me help you," he said, pushing forward as much compassion as he could. "I want to help you."

There was a terribly long pause, before the vulpix shakily nodded. He carefully withdrew his empty pokeball, moving painstakingly slow to keep the water off of her. He made sure to show her the ball before he gently touched her back with it.

She disappeared in a burst of scarlet light that lit up the tunnel for a brief second before swirling out of existence. The pokeball shook once, seemingly out of instinct, before falling still against the ground. It clicked.

Ash let out a long breath, eyes wide. He had caught another pokemon, one that had something seriously wrong with it. Not only did she have three of her tails bitten off, but she had incredible power that he had no idea where she had gotten it from. A single drop of water and sent her to her knees and she had barely been able to stand.

He slowly walked out of the niche, shaking himself. His back was much too cold and wet and he could feel a thin trail of water slipping down his spine.

Apep reared up, poking his nose at the pokeball in Ash's hand. His tongue flicked out, head tilted. Ro walked forward as well, rumbling softly.

Ash let them smell the ball, before standing fully back up. "Guys, can you lead me back to the path? We need to get out of here and check out what's wrong with her. She could be really hurt."

Apep nodded, turning back around. Ash clipped the pokeball to his waist, running his fingers over the surface, before picking his flashlight up from where he had dropped it and pointing it at the snake. At his signal, they started to move once again.

It took Apep no time at all to lead them back the way they had come, using his incredible sense of smell to take them through the lower caverns and back up to the main path. By Ash's guess, they had about two hours left before they reached the other side of Mount Moon. All he could do during that time was think.

The vulpix hadn't seemed aggressive, it had seemed scared. The Flamethrower had been aimed slightly above his head and she had given him ample time to let Ro come in and take the hit for him. At the thought, he reached down and stroked over Ro's spines, brushing away any last hints of miscoloring.

The nidoran rumbled up at him.

Eventually, he had thought about everything he knew of the vulpix and he just walked along, starting to come up with strategies. With her reaction to water, there was no way he was putting her anywhere near the Cerulean City gym, even if he could figure out what had caused her to react that way. She had been terrified.

But the kind of power she had would be incredible in any fight. Flamethrower hadn't hurt Ro that much, but she hadn't actually been aiming for them, and she had run away right after she used it. The fact that the flames lasted for longer than she had used them spoke enough for the strength of the move.

Either Brock didn't know enough about what Joey Marvil had thought her, or something else was going on.

But she was going to be-

Ro bumped him as he nearly slammed into the stone wall. He jerked, blinking rapidly as sunlight streamed into his eyes. Just twenty feet away stood the exit to Mount Moon, his flashlight nonexistent as compared to the brilliance of the light. He switched it off, clipping it back to his belt.

They walked quickly until they emerged out of the darkness of the tunnel, the sunlight kissing his skin with warmth that felt fantastic. With the humidity of the cave, his shirt had only barely started drying, but he could already feel it warming up under the sun.

The other side of Mount Moon was a thin stone platform with a sign on a stick near the entrance. He eyed it curiously, reading over the slightly weathered words written on its plastic surface.

Mount Moon lies ahead. Trainers, make sure to keep plenty of food and water on you - the tunnel within is longer than you think!

For those exiting, Cerulean City is about a day's travel away.

Well. The sign was nice, though he wondered why they didn't have one like that on the Pewter City side.

From where he was, he starred over the area in front of him. It was heavily cloaked in forest, but he could see breaks where ponds and rivers raced between the trees. A blip on the horizon showed a gleaming silver city, and beyond that was another shining expanse of forest green.

He checked his pokedex. It was around two. He'd travel until six today and then work on some training, before getting the major part of the traveling done tomorrow. But first, he had to talk to the vulpix.

Quickly jogging down the path, he found a reasonably clear clearing within viewing distance of the path, only a few minutes from Mount Moon. He sat down on a small rock, pulling out his bag.

The last two of his potions were sat on the rock next to him, and he pulled out several small bags of food. He offered three to his pokemon, one to Apep and two to Ro. They were the League portions for small pokemon, but he (stupidly) hadn't decided to upgrade to medium sized pokemon for Ro. With him being kingsize, he had to eat a whole size larger than he was, or two of the smaller ones. He had brought enough for about five pokemon on this short trip just in case he found another pokemon instead of just the vulpix.

Apep hissed happily with the food, digging in. Ro grunted as he wolfed down his two bags faster than Apep finished one. Ash pulled out a simple high-protein bar and a bag of nuts, munching on them quickly and stuffing the package back into his bag.

"Okay, guys. I'm going to call the vulpix back out? No matter what happens, you don't attack her or try to trap her."

They both nodded at him, Ro blowing a puff of air through his nostrils. Apep stretched out in the sun, warming his scales on the ground. Ro settled himself into a more relaxed position, ears perked up and twitching.

Ash gently tossed out the pokeball.

In a flash of red, the vulpix appeared. She was standing but her legs were shaking, eyes almost half lidded. If Ash hadn't been there, he would have thought that she had been beaten done by Lance's dragonite, not a drop of water.

But she immediately looked up, staring at the warm sun. Her fur almost seemed to glow and Ash distantly remembered in all of his studying for charmander that warm days made fire-type moves stronger.

"Hey, girl," he said softly, getting her attention. She narrowed her eyes at him, but stayed standing tall. The only hint of her uneasiness was the tenseness of her legs. "I've got some potions here. Do you want me to put them on you?"

Her ears perked up and she hesitantly took a few steps closer, grey eyes flicking up to his. She sniffed the potions suspiciously before nodding at him.

He uncapped one of them and poured it over her back, being careful to put a fair amount over the spot where her tails should be. The scars closed up even more, fading from a bright white to a gentle pink, though they didn't go away. Her legs straightened and she stood up taller, seeming to feel much better.

But he gaped as he witnessed a small amount of steam to trickle into the atmosphere. Potions were designed to be able to withstand incredible temperatures to heal pokemon, and this vulpix had just evaporated some of it.

Ash quickly pulled out a jar from his bag, pulling out an oran berry from within. He placed it on his palm and offered it to her, and she narrowed her eyes but grabbed it from him. He could feel the heat from her fur.

"May I scan you, please?" He asked softly, touching his pokedex. She looked up and nodded, shaking herself. Her three tails stood up, and he could see knots and tangles over their surface. He'd have to get a brush in Cerulean.

Pulling out his pokedex, he aimed the scanner at her and clicked it on. Within a second, a screen popped up.

Vulpix, the fox pokemon. Vulpix have six long tails that they use to release excess heat from their inner flame, which is in their chest and never goes out. They are occasionally skittish pokemon who are known for playing dead when faced with a dangerous enemy.

This pokemon is female with no held item. She knows the moves Ember, Quick Attack, Tail Whip, Will-O-Wisp, and Flamethrower. Her ability is Flash Fire, which causes all fire-type moves that hit her to boost her attack.

He frowned at the Flamethrower listed. The power she had put into her attack should have taught her Inferno-

Another screen popped up, this one bolded and containing a link straight to Professor Oak.

Attention! Your vulpix has another ability, Flame Body, which burns all pokemon who come in contact with her. This ability is impossible for vulpix to have. Please contact Professor Samuel Oak at the earliest possible moment.

His eyebrows shot up. Flame Body.

"You have two abilities," he said almost weakly. It was heard of for pokemon to unlock their secret ability, but that was only champion-level pokemon that ever managed to get to that level. And she had gotten an ability that wasn't even possible for her species to get - something important enough the League wanted him to call Professor Oak.

She looked at him with a very confused expression, head tilted.

He shook his head. "Vulpix, I need to make you a deal. If you join my team, I will help you learn to control your fire powers. And I will help you get revenge on Team Rocket."

There was an instant baring of her teeth and more fire flickered around her tails, fury bubbling into her eyes. The next second, she stared up at him, something bright and raw. After a moment, she nodded.

Ash jumped to his feet and cheered, nearly shocking her out of her skin. She hissed and as she leaped back, he noticed four burnt marks in the grass, right in the places where her paws had been.

He leaned back down. "I'm sorry I scared you. Would you like a nickname?"

Vulpix froze and he suddenly remembered that he wasn't her first trainer. She had had someone before him, someone who had taken her from the wild and raised her up from her weaker stages. She might have already had a nickname that Joey had called her everyday as she woke up and battled.

He was less than surprised when she shook her head.

"I'm sorry, Vulpix. Would you like some food?"

She perked right back up, and he remembered she probably hadn't eaten in two days. He immediately dug through his bag, pulling out two bags of food. She scarfed it down like she was dying.

He knelt next to her, shifting into a cross-legged position. She peered at him, blinking her grey eyes.

"I'm going to call Professor Oak, okay? Do you know him?"

There was a pause before she nodded, tails flicking.

"We're going to talk and try to figure out how to help you, girl. It shouldn't take that long." With that, he pulled up his pokedex and flicked to his contacts. The screen with Professor Oak's contact on it had faded, but every trainer started with two number for emergencies - the League Helpline and Professor Oak's.

He pressed the button and watched as the screen faded to black, the same cheerful ringtone dancing through the clearing. It was quickly becoming his least favourite sound in the entire world.

Vulpix sniffed at his pokedex. Apep slithered forward slightly and she glared darkly at the ekans, who seemed challenged. Ash snapped his fingers in front of his nose, stopping the snake from coming any farther forward. Ro stayed where he was, sitting on the ground with his ears perked.

After a few seconds, the screen snapped from black to the professor's face, who smiled genially at Ash. "Hello, my boy! What brings you to call me? I'll admit, it's has been quite a while since any one has called me on my pokedex."

Ash smiled back at him, shifting his pokedex to one hand. "Well, Professor, I caught a new pokemon and I'd like some help with her."

Professor Oak nodded, eyes looking to the side. "I've got your Trainer ID pulled up her. This says you have a vulpix? Where on earth did you find one near Mount Moon? I thought they were found later in Kanto."

He paused for a moment too long. "Professor, do you know what happened on Mount Moon yesterday?"

The man's expression darkened. "Yes, I do. I'm very proud of you, Ash, but you never should of had to be in that position."

He shook his head. "There's nothing we can do about that now. But did you hear about Joey Marvil?"

Professor Oak's face darkened farther into sorrow. "I knew him. He was a very caring boy - he called me every single time his pokemon had something wrong with them just to see whether he could help them. His ivysaur was tremendously powerful, even when it was still a bulbasaur."

"Well, one of his pokemon managed to escape. A vulpix. And I managed to catch it in the lower caverns, but there's a problem."

Professor Oak stopped in his celebrating of him. "What sort of problem? Vulpix are more docile breeds, I can't see any after-battle aggression lasting longer than a couple of days, and with some loving care it should fade much faster than that."

"No, it's-" he stopped his explanation and simply lifted the pokedex to show Vulpix to the professor.

The man stopped short at the sight of her tails, or more specifically the missing ones. His eyes narrowed. "How did this happen?"

"A raticate bit them off with Hyper Fang, but she managed to get away and Joey broke her pokeball. She ran away and I managed to find his this morning. But here's the problem - she has two abilities."

Professor Oak frowned. "Did the stress of the fight unlock her hidden ability? I would take her to a Pokecenter pretty soon. Not only is Drought a difficult ability to handle, but there might be problems from getting her ability so young and under attack. Do you have an experience with Sunny Day? That might help her to be able to control her ability even when she's not in battle to lessen the effects-"

"Professor!" Ash shouted for the third time. The man startled, smiling sheepishly as he realized Ash had been trying to get his attention.

"My apologies, Ash. But what seems to be the problem? I would have thought you'd have jumped for the opportunity to get such a powerful pokemon."

"Her second ability is Flame Body. I don't know how she got it, and the League even notified by to talk to you about it. Brock had said she hadn't mastered Flamethrower yet but she attacked me in the caverns and it was powerful enough to be an Inferno. Her fire moves are incredible, but when she was in the caves, a drop of water landed on her back and she was nearly knocked out. I just don't know what's wrong."

Professor Oak frowned again, pursing his lips. "Ash, there's not much I can do right now without being there to test some things. How about this - you keep going on to Cerulean City and then immediately head up to Route 24 and 25. There's an old friend on mine on the coast - his name is Bill, and he's a pokemon researcher like me. I'll send him data beforehand so you don't have to explain anything to him. The routes are very short, so if you get to Cerulean City at around four-ish, you should be able to get to Bill's house by about six. He'll tell you what you need to do to try and help control her fire power, okay? But up until then, just try and get her to control her inner fire."

"Thank you, Professor. But can I ask one thing from you?"

The man nodded. "Of course, Ash. What do you need?"

"Can you explain what happened at Mount Moon to mom? I don't really want to have to be the one to tell her." He averted his gaze as Professor Oak smiled sadly.

"I will, Ash. You'll still have to call her at Cerulean, though."

He smiled. "Don't worry. She'll probably start calling up the Pokecenter the second after you tell her anyway - I'll just have to pick up the phone."

Professor Oak matched his smile. "Okay, Ash. Remember - Bil lives near the coast,, and his house is only a little past the end of Route 25. I'm sure you've heard of the wild rhydon there, but from what I've heard it has already met up with its herd and shouldn't bother you or anyone else. Stay safe."

"I will. Have a nice day, Professor!"

And then he hung up, slipping his pokedex back onto his belt. Vulpix sat down in front of him, her tails twitching on the ground. He extended his hands slightly, moving slowly to not frighten her.

"May I pet you?"

She nodded after only a moment's hesitation. He felt a bubble of hope grow in his chest as he reached out and stroked her back.

It was warm, uncomfortably so. Heat trickled up through his fingers, almost steaming in the air. He couldn't hold it there for much longer than a couple of seconds before pulling away, shaking his hand.

"I'm sorry, girl. But once we get to Bill's house, I'll teach you how to control it. You won't have to worry about being too hot. I'll also get you a brush at Cerulean City. Those tangles can't be comfortable."

Vulpix nodded her head once.

He turned to face the rest of his pokemon. "We're going to the next gym, which is all about water pokemon, okay? So Vulpix won't be fighting, no matter whether or not we learn what caused your second ability. Girl, I'll let you rest for a bit while I talk to Apep-" he pointed at the snake "-and Ro." He aimed his finger at the nidoran, who snorted softly.

She looked very relieved, stepping away from where she had been sitting and heading toward a circle in the clearing where the grass had been swept away. She curled up on it, letting her tails cover her nose. Her eyes stayed open, watching them carefully, but she seemed to relax into the ground.

He gestured Apep and Ro over. "Okay guys. Now we've got something important to focus on. Neither of you have had any formal training in the water. I've seen a few pictures and what the gym floor looks like is a giant pool of water with several floating platforms on it. The platforms are pretty stable but powerful moves can knock them over."

Ro looked uncertain as he pictured the arena, crimson eyes narrowing. Ash was worried too - Ro's bulk meant that he couldn't really jump from platform to platform, which meant he'd have to stay on one and just pray that the water pokemon wouldn't hit him too hard.

Apep, though, had a chance. His body was remarkably similar to that of a dratini's, and it still bared a reminder to gyarados and milotic, who all lived their life in water and survived well in it. So if he could find some sort of pond, he could test Apep's ability to swim and maybe find a way to have Ro survive in the water.

But in the meantime, he had to travel fast. "We're going to to travel until eight today, and the maybe fit in a little training at the end. But we need to get to Bill's house really soon in order to be able to help Vulpix. So Apep, you're going to do endurance to maybe help out with your swimming. Ro, you'll go into your pokeball for a pretty big portion - we'll have some sprinting for you before we go to sleep."

The nidoran grumbled but didn't fight back. He knew he had to get faster in order to be able to fight.

"Vulpix, you can walk by me or go into your pokeball. What do you want?" He offered, causing her to raise her head and peer at him.

After a second, she pointed toward the pokeball. He hid his sigh - she had just come from an extremely traumatic experience and he had no right to push her to immediately trust him, but some part still hoped that she would start to like him soon. At least she had accepted being on his team.

He clicked the button and watched as she disappeared in a burst of red. Clipping it back to his belt, he slipped his backpack back on and stood up, stretching his arms above his head. His neck popped.

"Off we go." And go they did, heading back onto the route. Apep would complain about halfway through and that was when he would recall Ro to let him regain his strength for the sprinting.

As he had predicted, there weren't a lot of trainers on the route. There was one, a girl nearing fourteen years old with a steely gleam in her eyes that nodded tersely to him as they crossed paths. But there were no others on Route 5, just a calm quietness.

The pokemon were out, too. Pidgey and rattata jumped and sprang in the bushes right by the path. Most beginning trainers, the ones who still caught pidgey and rattata without even checking whether they were battlers or not, didn't come near any route near Mount Moon for at least a couple of weeks, and by that time they were able to understand quality over quantity for pokemon. But a few more rare pokemon dotted the path. A pidgeotto, its feathers gleaming with the bright red of nearing evolution stared at him with a gleam in its eyes, sitting on a branch and nearly bending it under its weight. A mankey shrieked at him from where it swung through the trees, slamming fists into branches as it shot through the leaves. A bellsprout glared furiously from its hidden position in a shrub, the leaves by its side twitching with anger not normally found in its species.

But he had already captured a brand new pokemon, and he didn't feel the need to capture another so soon. He wanted to bond with Vulpix before he added another member to his team.

Though the pidgeotto was thoroughly tempting. It had looked very powerful, as wild pokemon only got confident enough to be perfectly visible from the path with lots of experience beating the trainers that tried to capture them.

But they walked on. Apep began to slow slightly and at that point, Ro was a decent distance behind Ash that was only growing. He recalled the nidoran to his obviously relieved expression and encouraged Apep to keep going. Swimming with a difficult task for non water type pokemon, as they didn't have the natural air pockets within their body that allowed them their natural buoyancy. But he believed that Apep could at least be able to get pretty good at swimming in the couple of days he would be training before he tackled the gym.

Most gyms were more spread out, giving trainers plenty of time to be able to tain their pokemon up to be able to get their next badge. But Pewter City and Cerulean City had already been well-defined by the time they began the League, and there wasn't much of a way that they wouldn't allow each city to have their own gym.

But that just meant he'd have to spend a few more days training up his pokemon to be able to focus on water-type moves.

The sky slowly darkened, the sun sinking below the edges of the trees that he could see. Apep was suggisly sliding over the ground at this point, his head drooping and tail slipping over stones.

He checked his pokedex as the path got almost completely black wincing as he noticed the time on the upper corner. 9:13. A full hour past when he had wanted to stop, and Apep was definitely showing it.

Immediately, he turned off the path and found a thin clearing that he could barely stretch out across, but it was wide enough to fit him and all of his pokemon.

Quickly, he released Ro and let Apep flop down on the ground. He grabbed his bag and withdrew his blanket, spreading it out on the ground. Apep immediately slithered forward and laid down on it, head landing heavily on the ground.

He was exhausted, and Ash felt bad. He stroked along the ekans' back. "I'm sorry for pushing you so hard, buddy. I didn't mean to."

Apep snapped his head up, frowning. He shook his head back adnf orht, a steely glint in his eyes.

"Don't be sorry?" He guessed, trying to see what the snake was telling him. He was getting better at it, but it was still hard.

Apep nodded his head. He curled back up on the blanket, but the message was clear - he wanted to get stronger, and a couple of hours of slithering where he could get stronger was well worth it.

Ro perked up, looking ready to run, but Ash just patted his head. "No running today, bud. It's a bit too late for that. We'll do it tomorrow morning."

He touched Vulpix's pokeball, but he didn't call her out. Pokemon sometimes lost control of their powers while they slept, though it didn't happen very commonly. And with the new powers that Vulpix had recently gotten, he didn't want her to burn down the forest. So he let her sleep in the pokeball for the night.

Ash laid down next to his pokemon, letting Apep slump over his chest and Ro lean against his legs. He looked up at the break in the leaves, where he could see the last rays of bright purple and red of the sunset gleaming across the sky. In another couple of minutes, they were gone and everything turned a deep navy blue. Stars glittered a bright silver overhead, casting gentle light over the forest.

He fell asleep to Ro's gentle rumbled snores and Apep's heavy breathing making his chest rise. His hand rested on Vulpix's pokeball around his waist.

The next morning, he woke up at his regular time - around seven. The sun was just peeking above the horizon, shooting golden rays right into his eyes. He winced and brought a hand up to block them, jerking both Apep and Ro into wakefulness.

Apep hissed at him while Ro stood, stretching out his limbs and barbs. His ears twitched, claws digging light furrows into the ground.

"Come on guys, up and at 'em. We traveled for about three hours longer than usual yesterday, so that puts us at Cerulean City at about eleven, but we still need to get moving. I'd like to reach Bill's house a little bit before two so we have time to explore around Cerulean before we starting training."

Apep shook his head in annoyance but uncoiled, stretching out in the small beams of light. Ro was already ready and peacefully waited by the side of the route while Ash rolled up his blanket, brushing specks of dirt and a few crumpled leaves off. The trainer blankets were a lifesaver, and they were even rumored to have survived a meowth attacking it with Fury Swipes, which would have ripped a regular blanket to shreds.

He slipped it back into his ba and started to walk toward the path, pulling out more food. He distributed three bags, as normal, to Apep and Ro, hiding the last of his yawns behind his hand.

Pulling out Vulpix's pokeball, he gently tossed it out onto the route. In a burst of light, she appeared, still standing strong and proud. Joey had described her as headstrong on most occasions and he could see it in the way she stood, even as only three tails flicked behidn her. The scar over her front leg glinted in the light, not able to hide beneath her rather short fur. It didn't seem to cause her any sort of discomfort, though, or at least she didn't show it as she shook herself and looked up at him.

"Hey Vulpix. Here's some food," he said, setting her bag down on the route. She sniffed it once before digging in. He kept talking to her, filling up the air as she ate her food.

"We're going to visit Bill today. It'll take a couple of hours to get to Cerulean and then his house, but I think that we should get there before too much of the day is gone. After that, we're going back to Cerulean and start preparing for the gym battle. We'll probably spend a couple of days to prepare for the gym battle, perfecting the rest of our moves as we don't really have time to teach any new ones."

To his surprise, she perked up and stared at him, listening to what he was saying. Encouraged, he kept talking.

"I know you're going to be really strong, you know? The strength you had in your Flamethrower, even when you hadn't perfected it, really showed how powerful you're going to be. I'll help teach you control but there will be moments that you can just erupt on a field and bathe it in flames. They won't hurt you and then you can destroy the enemy without them even seeing you, can you imagine? It's going to be the most brilliant thing that people have ever seen."

She nodded at him, sitting down on the route. Small flames flickered out of her mouth even while she was just sitting there, warming up the air around them. It was like sitting next to a fireplace as he got close to her and he quickly realized he was going to have to invest in a seriously high-duty fireproof blanket if she started to sleep with him at night, which he hoped she would.

"We're going to start moving. Do you want to go in your pokeball?" He offered, holding it up. She stared at it for a long time, before moving her eyes up to his face. She shook her head and stood up.

He barely held in his cheer.

Progress was being made.

They started to walk down the route, Apep in the front, Ro in the back, and Vulpix right next to him. His ankles started to get hot but he never complained as she tucked herself close to him, tails flicking around and mouth open to release a few bursts of fire. He had started to guess that something was wrong with her inner flame, as no vulpix should have to release heat that often from their mouths. There was a near constant trickle of heat from the tips of her tails, causing the air above her to wave like a mirage. He idly wondered whether he could cook marshmallows off of her.

The snicker escaped his lips despite his best efforts to hold it in.

They traveled quickly, the sun rising above them as they walked down the route. Ro started to slip behind but he shook his head as Ash tried to recall him, determinedly forcing his legs to move faster. The kingsize pokemon seemed oddly rared to go, though it didn't seem like a bad thing.

Apep did, of course, and tried to increase his pace. Ash whistled sharply and the snake slowed with a disappointed hiss.

There were three trainers that passed him. Two boys traveling together with bright eyes and two pokeballs on their waists each, chattering excitedly about something. They seemed almost too young to be ten-years-old and were most definitely twins by their identical smiles gleaming on their face. One gasped at Vulpix, who visibly preened from the attention. That got a giggle from both of them.

The other was a girl with bright blue hair swinging by her shoulders. Her roots were a light brown though, and her eyebrows were the same color. She tossed an apple up and down in her hands, a positively enormous charmeleon marching at her heels. Vulpix nodded at it, another tongue of flame escaping from her mouth. The charmeleon grinned, inclining its head ever-so-slightly. Ash blinked as they passed each other.

He knew that fire type pokemon were well known for their inherent sense of pride and power, and currently it seemed that only non full fire types and growlithe didn't have the ego they were known for. Even Vulpix, the tiny fox that she was, had showed off with the fire from her mouth as she passed the charmeleon. Once she figured out how to control the fire inside her, he was both curious and scared of what would happen when she met a stronger fire type pokemon, though it would be a while before they saw anything other than charmanders and charmeleons. Fire types were rare.

But as the sun gleamed brightly ahead, the forest began to melt away. The path transitioned suddenly to smooth cobble and lights lined the sides. Another few minutes and he appeared inside the gates of Cerulean City.

It was bright and silver, the buildings stretching up to the sky in a way that Pewter City's hadn't. So much was crammed into a smaller space, and he could see why - on two sides of the city ran an enormous lake, the edge almost stretching out of side. He could see black spots, people out on boats exploring for pokemon or training their own. A grin shot onto his face. That would make it much easier to train his pokemon to battle water types. Though he'd have to buy a fishing rod.

He saw the glass dome of the Pokecenter behind a building top and headed there. His pokemon didn't really need much healing and so he wasn't going to check them in - it would suck valuable time away from when he needed to head toward Bill's house. But buying potions and a brush for Vulpix would be necessary.

Speaking of which, he turned to her and Ro. "Would you to like to be recalled? We're going into a more crowded space and I don't want you getting scared."

Ro immediately nodded his head and disappeared in a flash of scarlet, but Vulpix shook her head again. She stayed close to his side but didn't shy away from the crowds of people. He grinned at her, stroking between her ears.

Apep immediately came back and slithered up Ash's side, securing himself to his favourite spot. He grunted as the ekans pulled too tight around his waist but with a moment of readjustment they were ready.

They walked together, moving quickly to get to the Pokecenter. People were out and about but it was during work hours and most of them were children and trainers, enjoying the warm sun. A few pokemon trotted at people's heels.

The Pokecenter loomed in front and he pushed open the door, scooting inside and holding it open long enough for Vulpix to step through. She tucked herself back to his side and they walked up to the desk.

Nurse Joy smiled at him. "Hello, dear. How may I help you?"

"Can I have some potions and a vulpix brush, please?" Vulpix visibly perked up at his words.

"Sure, if you could just follow me over here for a quick second. How many potions would you like?" She walked over to the other desk, rummaging through a bin with several brushes in it, each for a different pokemon. Vulpix brushes were fireproof and pretty gentle, as to not yank their tails.

"Seven, please." He almost winced as he handed over a large roll of cash, but his mind flickered back to the prize he had won from Officer Jenny for helping catch that Team Rocket member.

He had forgotten about that. Right now, he planned on spending maybe three days training his pokemon to battle water type pokemon, because he didn't have enough time to teach them a new if he got a TM for both Ro and Apep, that might be enough time for them to get it down and then be able to really hit the gym where it hurt.

His mind raced as he accepted the seven potions from Nurse Joy, slipping them into his bag. The brush was placed on top, though Vulpix seemed a little upset that he hadn't started to brush her immediately.

"Later, bud," he said, stroking between her eyes. She purred up at him, the sound soft but surprisingly deep.

He thanked Nurse Joy before leaving the Pokecenter, heading towards the middle of Cerulean City. People buzzed and chattered around him, and he quickly realized that it was lunch break for those at work. An enormous fearow flapped overhead, eyes following a thin man chatting on his phone.

But there was a sign advertising Route 24 and he headed for it, Vulpix trotting at his side and staring around.

The route curved along the lake, blanketed on one side in heavy forest and the other in a glittering expanse of blue water. He could already see trainers, fishing rods bobbing in the water or battling water pokemon, and sped up his pace. He wanted to make it to Bill's house before he started to battle anyone.

Yet.

He walked on, pulling Apep off of him. The ekans shook himself and rattled his tail, but he was quickly distracted by the lake present only a dozen feet away. He raced closer, poking his nose into the water before slithering back toward Ash, who was holding back laughter as Apep flicked his tongue out at the water on his scales.

Ro was released as well, stretching before lumbering back onto the path. He seemed very calm with what was going on and Ash was very happy he had found him. Nidoran were one of the calmest poison types in Kanto, even after they evolved up to their final evolution. After contact with a Moon Stone they sometimes had uncharacteristic aggression that could last about a week but that was from a whole new typing added to them. It was highly suggested to keep them on land during that week of change so they could learn about the ground and how it worked.

Vulpix trotted at his heels. She seemed to bounce as she moved, energy levels as high as always. Every now and then he saw burnt grass beneath her paws and a steady trickle of smoke from her mouth. If he didn't know something was wrong, he'd have thought she was going to burst into flames.

The route was short, and before an hour had passed he moved from Route 24 to Route 25. The forest grew stronger and slowly swallowed the path back up, though he could see flashes of ponds and streams in the breaks between green leaves. Cerulean City seemed to be 50% city and 50% water.

After about thirty minutes, the trees began to crumble away, growing thinner and thinner before they turned to shrubs and bushes. The path changed from hard pressed dirt to a barely defined path twisting over the ground. Few trainers came to this part of Kanto, normally only if they wanted to go off the route and find their way to the ocean. But there were so many other spots to be able catch deepwater pokemon, and this coastline was not only full of rough waves and rock-filled beaches but also devoid of most pokemon life. Only incredibly strong pokemon came to the beach here.

He walked on, conscious of the rising humidity that came from being close to the sea. The air grew saltier, a cool breeze brushing against his face. It was calming but Vulpix stiffened as she sensed it, baring her fangs at the air.

She rejected him when he held up her pokeball though, seemingly determined to bare it out. Her tails straightened and the amount of fire spilling from her mouth seemed to triple, burning in the air.

After a while, smoke appeared over a hill. Ash perked up, going faster, and within a few minutes a roof appeared. Then a wall, then a door, and finally a quaint house was firmly nestled in a small valley between hills.

It didn't seem like a pokemon researcher's house at the first glance, but after a couple of seconds Ash began to pick things out. There was a strange metal machine attached to the side of the house, standing out starkly from the gentle green siding. It was stuffed full of levers and pipes that stretched up to the roof. A bunch of odd tools were scattered around the yard, thrown about like a child with its toys. A few of them looked like pokeballs attached to sticks, which was strange enough. There was even a pokeball sitting by a table by the door, pried open with a screwdriver. Whoever this Bill was, he liked to work both inside and out, if the tools were any indicator.

He stepped closer, stepping off the route and getting on the cobbled path leading up to the front door. There were a few lights powered by solar panels lining his way, though they were switched off. It was only two, and the sun gleamed brightly overhead, occasionally covered by a few rare clouds.

Stepping closer, he paused and looked down at Apep and Ro. "Do you guys want to be recalled? If you don't, you can't misbehave at all. This man is a friend of Professor Oak and he's helping Vulpix. The second you cause any problems - and no, I don't care who started it - you're being called out."

Ro looked reasonably charigned but Apep still had a steely look in his eyes. Ash glared at him. "Apep, if you try and show off, I'm letting Ro fight the first water pokemon we find for training."

The ekans immediately hissed but nodded his head, looking extremely disappointed. Ash hid a chuckle and put their pokeballs back on his waist. Raising a hand, he knocked sharply on the door and waited.

There was a moment's pause before the door swung open. A man stood there, standing tall in rather casual clothes. Shorts, shirt, belt, and a shock of white hair. He was nearly as old as Professor Oak.

Around his waist were two pokeballs as well as another array of tools, each one modified in some way with strange tips and leather-wrapped grips. The edges were polished, though there was a small stain on the man's shirt.

"Hello! Ash Ketchum, I presume?" Bill said, extending his hand with a brilliant smile. He seemed to have an extremely large amount of energy for his age, shaking Ash's hand strongly and easily kneeling down to be face to face Vulpix. "And you must be the vulpix I've heard so much about!"

She narrowed her eyes at him, tucking herself closer to Ash.

Bill seemed to understand, standing back up. "Please, come inside. I've got to grab a few things and then we'll outside again - I've got a more reasonably fireproof training area to figure out what might be wrong with Vulpix here."

Ash followed him inside, his pokemon dogging at his heels. Though Apep tried to get in front, Ash shot him a dark glance and the ekans fell in line behind him. He was still in front of Ro, though.

Vulpix sniffed at the light beige walls, lined with a manner of tables stacked high with more metallic machines. The front room was dominated by an enormous pokemon transfer system, similar to the one at Professor Oak's. All Pokecenter and a few other places had miniaturized versions of this, but they could only access League-certified places within Kanto. This massive machines could access anywhere in the world as long as the person on the other end gave them permission to remove or give a pokemon, and they had a hundred percent success rate.

Bill stepped forward and pressed a button, watching a thin panel slide open and pokeball slide out. "I had him pulled about two hours ago and I already briefed him on everything," he explained. "But I just left him in here instead of clipping him to my belt because if anyone was going to lose Professor Oak's pokemon, it would be me, wouldn't it?" He let out a rueful chuckle as he grabbed the pokeball and headed toward the back of the room.

They went through another hallway before emerging in a kitchen. The back wall had a large door in it and that was where they went out, Ash holding it open long enough for Ro to get through.

Bill's outside was beautiful. Over the edge of a hill was a brilliant view of crystal blue waters stretching as far as the eye can see, and he could hear in the distance the crash of waves against sharpened rocks. The sea breeze smelled wonderful and freeing and to be honest, he couldn't wait until he got to Vermillion City and could experience it more up close and personal.

There was a large stone platform, ad speckled everywhere were burn and electricity marks. A few pieces of grass were sprouting between the stones but Ash kind of doubted that they would survive long past Vulpix's Flamethrower.

Bill gestured for him to stand back and threw the pokeball, jumping back himself. In a burst of scarlet, a pokemon appeared.

It was easily five feet tall, putting it a notch above Ash's head. A quadruped coated in red and white fur, lined with black tiger stripes down the back. It let out a happy bark as soon as it appeared, wagging its long tail.

An arcanine, an extremely powerful one by the look of it. The pokemon's paws were nearly the size of his head and he could feel the temperature rise a single degree just by being close.

"This is Arcanine, and he's going to be helping me gauge your vulpix's fire power. He's got the ability Flash Fire, so anything she throws at him shouldn't hurt. When we do check out her Flame Body ability, though, don't worry about him. He's been the brunt of more experiments then I can count and he enjoys them, and I've got plenty of potions on hand to help him out. He's a great pokemon."

Arcanine barked happily as he said that, perking up. His eyes were a chocolate brown, warm and inviting. His fur was well brushed and he looked to have fallen into the lap of luxury, though there was no denying the sheer muscle beneath his pelt. He was powerful and had earned the right to enjoy himself.

"Can you ask your vulpix to use Flamethrower on him?" Bill asked, pulling out a pad of paper and a pen.

Ash frowned, and he watched as Apep and Ro quickly retreated backward. "Of course, but you might want to get back a bit. Her Flamethrower is… powerful, to say the least. Just for safety."

Bill waved him away. "I've been working with powerful fire types for several decades now. This isn't my first rodeo! Vulpix aren't that powerful, especially when they're still a juvenile. I'll be fine."

Ash saw Vulpix stiffen with anger and wisely retreated a few more steps. "It's your funeral. Vulpix, Flamethrower!"

An honest-to-god wall of flames exploded out of her mouth.

He ducked and stepped backward again, shielding his eyes. The fire smacked into Arcanine, though the pokemon didn't take a step backward. The air hissed as any water evaporated and the grass that had struggled so hard to survive burst into flames and promptly disintegrated.

Bill stood there, the edges of his notebook singed. "Ah. I see what you mean."

Arcanine barked happily and leaned down to nuzzle Vulpix, who purred up at him. He didn't pull back, but when he stood back up to shake himself of the last remaining embers from Vulpix's fire, Ash could see a few charred pieces of fur.

Bill scratched something down. "Okay, that's definitely more powerful than she has any way of being. And she does have the ability Flame Body as well, I guess we don't have to check that again. Let me give Arcanine some ideas to try and help her control it, and then we'll talk over what might have caused this."

He stepped closer, placing a hand on Arcanine's shoulder. The pokemon turned around and pushed his face into the man's chest, who laughed and scratched behind his ears. "Can you help Vulpix out? She needs to learn how to control her inner fire. Start with Ember and maybe do Flamethrower, but start small. If you can, do you think you could figure out how to keep her inner fire more inside of her? She's burning things she's touching even without trying to and that saps her strength."

Arcanine tilted his head, thinking. He nodded his head and barked again, turning back to the fox pokemon, who stared up at him. Arcanine pushed closer to her and spat out a single Ember, which fizzled out before it even hit the ground.

Vulpix's Ember sprang to life the second it hit the life, tongues of flames licking the air hungrily.

Arcanine shook his head and barked to her, and they jumped into their own discussion. Ash left Apep and Ro to watch the two of them, heading toward a small outside table with Bill to talk.

They both sat down, and Bill pulled out his notebook and flipped to a new page. He sketched out a very simple picture of a vulpix, making sure there were six tails visible. With a light hand, he drew a black blob in the center of its chest.

"You see that, Ash? That's her inner fire. All fire type pokemon have it, though it varies in size. For the most part, its size correlates to the size of the pokemon. When non fire type pokemon learn a fire type move, they often struggle greatly with it because they don't have an inner fire. Eventually, they learn to heat up the air in their mouth before it leaves them, but they won't ever be as fast or as strong as a fire type pokemon's move. All Vulpix has to do to use Flamethrower is take a deep breath and breath out, and her inner flame does the rest of the work for her."

Ash nodded. He knew about the inner flame, though the way that non fire types used fire type moves was interested.

"Each fire type pokemon has a way of regulating their flame. For instance, Arcanine uses his fur and breath. Every time he exhales, he breathes out warm air created by his inner flame. I know that all humans and pokemon, except for ice types, do that, but Arcanine's breath can reach up to 100 degrees. He also uses his fur to cool down by releasing heat through pores in his skin and then catching it in his fur and released it slowly, so he doesn't spontaneously burst into flames."

"Vulpix do that same breath trick, but they don't release extra heat through their fur because their fur is too short to be able to properly catch the heat, as they often live in more volcanic areas. So instead they use their tails. You see the curl on the end of her tails?" Bill asked, pointing to Vulpix.

Ash looked, though he already knew what he would find. On the end of her tail was a slight bend, curling up like a spiral. It was darker fur and was the part the pokemon used for moves such as Iron Tail, as it was the strongest.

"On the very end is a small collection of furs different from the rest of her body. They are absolutely fireproof and very thick, as well as hollow. Vulpix constantly release the majority of their heat through those hairs in order to not overheat. Putting them in too warm of places can cause that, and it could end up with them passing out. There have been causes of vulpix dying on Cinnabar Island because trainers brought them too close to the volcano. But back to the point - vulpix release most of their excess heat produced by their inner fire through their tails. But your vulpix has lost three of her tails, and that means she is releasing half as much heat as she needs to."

Bill paused here to point at the dark blob he had drawn in the chest of the vulpix. He started to shade more and more, making it darker and larger until it covered nearly her entire front half.

"I'm sure you've seen her breathing out flames in an effort to try and keep up, but it's not working. The excess heat is escaping through her skin but her fur isn't thick enough to release it slowly, so it has forced her to have a second ability of Flame Body. But the issue lies within the fact that her original ability is Flash Fire, which boosts her fire attacks when she's hit with fire."

"But with Flame Body, she is nearly constantly on fire or very close to it, so her skin - which has pores to let the fire attacks through to power her inner flame - is in a constant cycle of capturing heat and then releasing it the next second. This has, unofficially, made her fire attacks constantly growing stronger."

Ash blinked as he sucked all of the information in. "That's incredible."

Bill fixed him with a steely eye. "It may seem so at first, but there are very real consequences. Those pores on her skin are being used from both directions, both for sucking heat in and releasing it. That has caused them to widen exponentially. For most fire types, the danger with water is the fact it doesn't let them release heat because their fur is wet. But with Vulpix, water is a problem because it sinks through her pores and landed right on her inner flame."

Ash stiffened. He hadn't done a lot of research but even he knew what that meant - too much water and he could literately snuff out Vulpix's entire life. It wouldn't even take that much, if what Bill was saying was true. She could die with a well-placed Water Gun.

"What do you suggest I do?" He said almost weakly.

Bill frowned, scratching his chin. "Well, you have to teach her how to at least moderate the fire that comes through in her attacks. She won't get nearly as tired from her attacks because she's constantly getting stronger in battles, but try too many Flamethrowers and she's going to feel it. Start first with Ember, like she's doing now. By using a large amount of fire type attacks she does alleviate some stress from her inner flame, though not nearly enough. But when she uses Ember, she can work on creating just the small fire and not releasing her entire inner flame in the attack. Start small and move up, but through diligent training you should be able to get her to at least have some idea of how strong her attacks are going to be, but she's never going to be able to force them down to the level where a vulpix her age should be at. Eventually she'll peak, but for now just focus on trying to get her able to control her gift. And for the love of Arceus, do not put her in a fight against a water type pokemon. Especially against the Cerulean City gym."

Ash shook his head vehemently. "I wouldn't do that. Not to her."

Bill nodded, a small smile flickering onto his face. "Well, a few more tips. Have you tried to give her water yet?"

He frowned and tried to think back, but didn't remember doing it at all. He stiffened as he remembered letting his pokemon drink at any stream they came across while Vulpix was inside her pokemon. "No."

"That's good. She won't be able to drink water, as it might travel to her inner flame. Instead, she needs steam."

Ash blinked. Well, he wouldn't have thought of that.

Bill went on. "Get a fireproof bowl and whenever you find water or she needs some, scoop a bit inside and set it down. Let her use Ember on it until it evaporates and then she can drink it out of the air. The good thing is that she's a fire type so she doesn't need too much water, as it's kind of a very ineffective method, so it should be enough, though you might have to do it a couple times."

He tapped his chin, thinking hard. "If you can, start teaching her a different element. Vulpix can learn a pretty fair amount of dark and ghost type moves. That'll give her something to focus on other than her fire, and that might help her to control her inner flame as she has to control the new energies."

Bill slapped his hands against his thighs. "Well! I think that's it. You have any questions for me?"

Ash shook his head, standing up to shake the man's hand. "Thank you so much. I never would have figured any of this out in a year and you only had a day. Thank you so much for helping out me and Vulpix."

Bill laughed. "Kid, spend enough decades working on this and you'll be able to work a few things out. I have to say, thank you for giving me something entertaining to work on. Your vulpix is quite the enigma."

Ash chuckled before blinking, a thought shooting to his head. "Hey, do you think I could have your number? You've really helped me out and I'm a bit worried about Vulpix," he offered, patting his pokedex.

Bill shook his head. "I'm sorry Ash, but I don't have a pokedex. It's pretty rare for people other than trainers to have one as they're so high tech, and most people can only call off of home phones and Pokecenter calls. But if something does go wrong, don't hesitate to call me then from any city. My name's listed under League resources, third page. Bill the pokemon researcher."

They both stood up, Bill flipping to his old page of notes. Ash peered over his shoulder to see what was written

Vulpix, medium size, tangled coat. Missing three tails, violently removed. Scar over front foot - causing discomfort while walking?

Reacted nicely to Arcanine. No aggression or overconfidence. Acknowledged him as superior and listened to him.

Flamethrower is much too powerful. Couldn't control it. Flames lasted longer after she used the move. Appeared to use a lot of oxygen. Could be determiental with too much fire.

With large inner fire, oxygen intake must be increased to support it. Possible forced adaptation to take in oxygen through pores as well?

Ember is too strong. Must find a way to control it or she might burn herself out.

Ash blinked again. He had seen Bill taking notes for about two minutes before coming over to explain everything to him. The man must have a brain the size of an entire dragonite to come up to those conclusions that fast.

Vulpix was still spitting out Embers, rotating to shoot out a new one every time she finished. Arcanine walked next to her, squishing the still-active Embers under his paws and occasionally barking to her. Every time he spoke up, she lifted her head and listening to him, sometimes talking back but always using another Ember and looking up to him for approval. Arcanine always had something new to say and she appeared to be trying every piece of advice he offered her.

Ash just stood there, trying to figure out what they were saying. He didn't have the foggiest, but there were some quirks he picked up. When Vulpix held it in her mouth, the Ember grew stronger. When he shot it out immediately, the power was decreased slightly, some even breaking apart as they hit the ground.

Progress was progress, no matter how small. He felt so proud of her, listening to another pokemon and trying to help herself.

Apep and Ro had both moved forward, though they stayed out of the way of Vulpix's Embers. They too were listening intently to whatever Arcanine was barking to Vulpix, and he could even see Apep building up poison in his mouth, trying to get it more toxic.

Bill clapped his hands and Arcanine looked up, tilting his head. "I'll give you a little more time, bud, but you need to start giving her tips she can use later. I've got to send Ash back to Cerulean City so he can make it there before it gets dark."

Ash jerked, looking at his pokedex. It was nearly six, and that meant he'd be getting back to Cerulean at a little past eight, which was when he normally started to do the last training regiments and heading to bed.

Arcanine nodded, turning back to Vulpi and barking quickly. Apep spat out his batch of poison, which glinted a dark red. It wasn't the bright, bubbling orange of Acid, but it was much more progress than he'd made before. All of his poison up to this point had been a bright purple, which was one of the lowest toxicity. As he increased its power, that greatly increased the chance of heavily poisoned their target, which could seriously cut down the battle time and put their opponent on the defensive.

Ro stepped forward, head tilted to the side. Vulpix barely spared him a glance.

Ash was jerked back to reality by Bill's hand on his shoulder. "I'll finish up a few more notes and send them to you tomorrow morning, okay? I'll ask Nurse Joy to print them out and give them to you so you can study them. Maybe even get your pokedex to record it. Though I pray that no more injuries like this happen to vulpix, at least we'll know how to deal with them if it does happen."

Ash nodded. "I promise. And thank you again for helping me out with Vulpix. I swear I won't put her out to fight any sort of water type pokemon, though I definitely can't say the same about grass types."

Bill laughed. "Go get 'em, tiger."

* * *

 **Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!**

 **I worked my butt off to get this entire thing out in time, and man was it difficult. These chapters are not easy to write overnight!**

 **Also, it didn't help that I went back over the whole Proton scene to make sure I was punishing Ash enough while not making it super cliche.**

 **But yeah guys! I know there are a lot of stories similar to this out there, and I'm not going to lie that I have read a lot of them and gotten inspiration for just about every one. But I really tried to make this scene stand out. Most of the time Ash is able to single handedly fight his way through hordes upon hordes of Team Rocket grunts until he is attacked by the executive and has to be saved by Lance. I felt like this was more realistic, as well as paving the way for a more intelligent Team Rocket. I mean, the highest criminal force in Kanto? They aren't all idiots, guys. And Lance is a pretty busy guy.**

 **Also, I wonder how his pokemon will react to him being attacked by a pokemon without them there to defend it? Hmmmmmmmm**

 **But did you guys like Proton? I kind of see him as the medium between Archer, who's kind of crazy and demented, and Petrel, who is that cold, calm and collected type. So I think he's going to be fun to play with during Ash's journey.**

 **Also, I'm really really sorry. You guys gave me so many good ideas, but as the story played out I wasn't able to get any of them in. We're just going to jump straight into my original fourth pokemon, now my third. But I think you guys will like this one. Vulpix is pretty cool, and I think she'll be fun to play with. REVENGE**

 **Anyway! Onto answering reviews!**

 **MOKKEL**

 **No other fanfic ever really focuses on Brock much.**

 **The other authors either give less than quarter of a chapters worth of screen time or outright skip his gym battle altogether.**

 **Heck they do this even in the manga!**

 **so it was quite refreshing to see an all new take on Brocks character.**

 **PS if you like tragic backstories then read the light novel. every character's got at least some sort of a sad backstory. like the fact that Jessie was so poor that she had to eat snow to survive as a child 'cause her mother abandoned her. or the about that time when Ash's mother lied to him for 10 years about his father being on a journey when she has no idea what happened to him...probably dead if I had to guess**

 **also thanks for not wasting time on writing out each and every detail about Ash's training. it's so tedious and boring to read when other authors do this. like who the heck wants to read 5k words of nothing but a training routine?!**

-I feel like Brock is kind of given the middle finger in most Ash rewrite stories, you know? He's given a chapter - if that - about his gym battle and then he stops existing, despite him being a very important character in the anime. I really hope I can quench your wanting to see Brock in this fic, though! He's one of my favourite characters.

Also, woah. I will admit, I did not expect that from a lighthearted child's show. Poor Jessie. I guess. Ash at least I can kind of understand his mother's decision, but poor Jessie.

I will admit that I fell victim to the all-too-present desire to write out full training on my third chapter but I'm hoping I can break free of it now. I swear it won't happen again! xD

 **BLUE IS THE SEA**

 **I was surprised and excited to see this updated! To be honest I assumed this was one of those one and done fics, I'm glad I was mistaken.**

 **I'm really liking Ekans usage. The only other fic i've seen a good Ekans portrayed in is a naruto/pokemon fic that hasn't updated in forever though hat I am hoping and praying gets picked back up. I'll see how Nidoran works out and how you develop him. Love the nido line but everyone always goes male when poor nidoqueen really needs some love sometimes.**

 **You laid out how the gyms and leaders are set up and work out without overloading the readers and have put a lot Mel's world building into your AU. One thing that surprises me from your authors note is I assumed this was going to be a specialist fic where Ash specialized in poison type pokemon due to his first two being them. I know you want to use 'misfits' and even in your story you have Brock mention that poison types were not well liked in Kanto due to Team Rocket so I has been assuming this would go down the "prove poison types are awesome" Route. They are popular monotype teams on smogon but as much as I wrack my Brain I don't think I've ever come across a mono anything trainer focused story on here that surpassed a few chapters aside from dragon master type fics. The poison team route is just a suggestion. There's plenty of unloved pokemon with great potential out there in battle waiting to be chosen by you too;).**

 **Your writing is easy to read and I don't find myself skipping ahead like in a lot of stories so you have done well to capture my attention! Keep up the great work and I look forward to your next update!**

-Thanks! I'm not going to lie, so did I. I'm really happy I got back to writing this, and now I'm able to see your review!

Ekans is one of my favourite pokemon. The way they're portrayed in the anime annoys me, because you bet if Ash had caught one them would have went straight to sweet and cuddly. Nidoran are pretty awesome too, although I do really feel bad about not using a female nidoran.

I'm not going to lie, I spent like an entire day before I started writing this fic planning out the rules for my world. It took a lot longer than it should have Dx

I know I'm using a lot of poison types and while him specializing in those would be awesome, I don't think that that quite fits with what I want for him. I'm sorry to disappoint.

Thank you so much for the compliments! This review just makes me feel all bubbly inside.

 **ABZB13**

 **That was INCREDIBLE.**

 **I think *I* was inspired by Brock's advice!**

 **If Ash bonds with a giant rock snake in addition to his adorable danger noodle, I might have to squee.**

-Aw, thanks! I hope you're inspired enough to go and make pokemon real XD

And bonding with a giant rock snake? Hmmm… Ah, but that would be spoilers!

Thank you so much for your review!

 **Thank you so much for reading this story guys! I really hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I can't wait 'til I get to see you on the next on!**

 **Anyway! Please read and review!**

 **Frost OUT!**


	4. Cascade Badge

There weren't any TMs that both Apep and Ro could use.

Ash stood in front of the TM display case in Cerulean City Pokecenter. The circular disks were protected by thick glass that required a key to be opened and they had another box over the three Hyper Beam TMs. It was definitely fewer TMs than the amount at Celadon City but for most trainers who had saved up enough money to buy one, maybe two - like him - that would be enough.

But there were _none_ that both Apep and Ro could use effectively against water type pokemon. Most moves they shared were poison type moves and while those were good, he didn't quite want to use his hard-earned money on that when he could teach them plenty of poison moves before he started to run out.

There were lots of moves that Vulpix could learn as well, though she had much of the same problem as Apep and Ro. Her main moves were fire types, though he remembered the fact she had already learned Energy Ball, which was a grass type. That could be very helpful if she was ever forced to try and counteract a water type move. Though she could also use Flamethrower, more effective moves were better at blocking moves.

He hadn't even seen her use any of her moves except for Flamethrower and Ember. Hell, he hadn't even really done that much research on her or how to train her - just a ton of daydreaming about a powerful ninetales wrecking the field and burning the shit out of any grass type pokemon.

No matter how much he wanted bulbasaur in the beginning, he couldn't deny the power behind fire type moves.

But there wasn't much he could do with the TMs right now. Maybe later, once he caught another pokemon and could start buying TMs that multiple pokemon could learn would he start to teach them the difficult moves quickly. He cast one last longing look at Thunderbolt, which Ro could learn. But even buying a one-time use TM would deplete his funds greatly and he wasn't even sure whether he could teach the move in the few days he had before he wanted to challenge the gym.

With a sigh, he walked back over to Nurse Joy. She was bent behind her desk and he could hear a quiet humming. Eventually she straightened and handed over a clean sheet of white paper, smiling warmly at him.

Bill had followed through on his promise, sending over a list of helpful tips for training Vulpix as well as ways to contain her fire in everyday situations. There were lists of high quality fireproof blankets, bowls, and training weights, as well as a few more exercises she could do to exhaust herself and her flame.

He flicked through it as he thanked Nurse Joy. She bobbed her head back and turned to help another trainer coming up to her, an eleven-year-old with a pair of hunched shoulders and serious eyes.

Heading outside, he patted his pokeballs. They had all been healed up last night and were raring to go and train, although Vulpix had showed hesitation at first. But after a while of prepping Apep and Ro she had perked up and finally nodded her head. It seemed even she wanted to work on her own strength, though she hissed every time he mentioned the water type pokemon of Cerulean City gym. Turning left, he started to head toward Route 24. Training in the forest close to the lake would be a good idea. He wouldn't challenge the lake yet but many ponds were scattered through the trees.

He had done as much research as he could, but there were wildly conflicting versions. As best as he could, he guessed that there were four sisters at the gym, and the youngest battled younger trainers. No one really spoke much about the older triplets but he paid more attention to Misty, the youngest.

She apparently had multiple teams of two she used against beginner trainers. Her most popular were a goldeen and a staryu, though sometimes she used her starmie if the trainer knocked out her goldeen too easily. But there were also mentions of two horsea, a crabby, and a seaking.

He just prepared for water type pokemon.

Eventually, about thirty minutes down the road, he found a small pond through a break in the trees. The trees around it were knocked down, presumably by larger pokemon who came to drink there. But it was a decent size and far enough from the route that he didn't have to worry about other trainers coming in to challenge him.

The water was smooth, but he could see a few bubbles rising to the surface. There might be a few slumbering pokemon in its depths and he felt a prickle of excitement at challenging them. He might even capture one if he found it powerful enough, though there were probably only baby poliwag in the pond.

Aiming far away from the pond, he released his pokemon.

Vulpix immediately hissed at the pond, padding a little bit farther away. She sat down and licked a spot on her fur. Ash had groomed her the best he could last night and now her coat gleamed, glowing a soft yellow/orange with her ability Flame Body. It was a stunning effect that he was sure she appreciated.

Apep yawned and stretched himself, working out any kinks. But after a few seconds he reared up, ready to train. Apep had trounced him at the last gym battle and he wasn't going to let that happen again.

Ro, of course, was already bright-eyed when he came out. The nidoran was definitely a morning person. Pokemon.

"Okay guys, we've got three days before we challenge the gym. That's not enough time to learn a new move, so we're going to home the old ones and maybe do something a little bit different."

"Brock said that every move, even the old ones, have their use in battle, right? Well, we're going to go a step even further back and not use moves at all."

Apep blinked at him, but Ash was on a roll. He had thought of this idea last night trying to fall asleep, and he had come up with ideas for each pokemon.

"Apep, your strongest aspect of you isn't your poison - it's your body. You're our only hope for being able to swim around the field and so I need to get you stronger. If we can get you strong enough, my hope is that you can grab a pokemon out of the air. You won't even need to use the move Bite - just get your jaws around the pokemon. Remember what onix did to you in Pewter?"

Apep's furious hiss was proof enough.

"So if we can use that, you might not even have to use a move to knock the pokemon out. But if you need to, you can use Poison Fang once you grab it out of the air and then knock it out."

Apep seemed to like the idea as he rose up to his full height, stretching out on the ground. He stared at the pond with a challenge in his eyes.

"And Ro. You know you won't be able to dodge, right? We're on platforms over water and you can't jump. So instead, I'm going to be having Vulpix attack you."

Apep's hiss was most definitely laughter, but Ro just tilted his head to the side. He trusted his trainer, though this training sessions definitely seemed very different than previous ones.

"Vulpix is going to burn you, and then she's going to hit you with a couple of Embers and things to work on your ability to keep attacking even when it hurts. I didn't train either of you nearly as much as I should have when we were fighting Brock, and I want to fix that. It'll hurt but I believe in you, bud."

He turned to Vulpix, pulling out Bill's paper of notes. "As for you - we need to work on controlling your flames. Thankfully, Bill had an idea. Will-O-Wisp. You already know the move, right?"

She nodded.

"What you're going to do is create about three of them, and then try to keep them alive as long as you can without increasing or decreasing their power. Eventually we'll move on to having you move them around in the air around you, still keeping them stable. This will teach you not only to control your power levels but also help you aim your attacks and not waste as much power missing."

Vulpix narrowed her eyes, opening her mouth. A ball of gleaming white flame built up in, though she didn't release the fire. After another second she swallowed it back down, tails twitching.

"This'll be a difficult session for you guys, but I believe. We can do this!"

And with his pep talk over, they got to work.

He searched for a few minutes before finding a suitably thick branch for Apep. The ekans used Iron Tail on it at his command, and he jammed the edge of the stick into the ground, sticking it in a few inches and securing it further with a few rocks. Apep flicked his tongue out at it.

With a bit of careful maneuvering, he got Apep wrapped tightly around the stick. The snake would stay there for about an hour, forcing him to constantly use his muscles in order not to fall, definitely strengthening his core. At the same time, he'd be working on increasing the toxicity of his poison attacks. His poison was normally at a dark purple but at Bill's house, he had managed to get to a dark red. Ash wanted him at the scarily bright orange, though even that wasn't the highest stage. There wasn't much research done in that area, but some pokemon had reached brilliant yellow poison.

He stepped toward Vulpix, getting her attention by clearing his throat. She flicked her tails in his direction, blowing out a thin tongue of flame.

"Vulpix, create three Will-O-Wisps, not full power."

She could have almost sworn she grinned as she opened her mouth, taking a deep breath. The same ball of fire, gleaming a brilliant white with its intensity, built in her throat. She flung it into the air, snapping out another two.

They hovered there, hissing and crackling in the air. Ro gave them a suspicious look, his crimson eyes narrowed. He shuffled on the ground barbs peeking slightly out from his skin and horn leaking a bead of poison.

Ash held his hand up. "Steady, Ro. I promise I will heal you the second it becomes too much. Vulpix, _gently_ hit him with one."

She frowned for a second before barking. At her command, one of the Will-O-Wisps flung forward, though the other two lurched before stopping. It flew through the air and popped right on Ro's back, burning the skin to a blackened purple. He rumbled in annoyance, but it didn't seem too bad.

"We'll start with one, Ro. Later, we'll work our way up until you can handle three at a time and still keep fighting for a long time. Don't forget, I've got a ton of potions. If it gets too much just tell me, and I'll heal it up." He put a hand on Ro's head, scratching between his enormous ears.

"Now, go and work on Peck. Halfway through I want you to switch to Horn Attack, and then a bit after that go to Double Kick. Try to work pretty equally on all of them, though if one move is really struggling work on that more."

The nidoran nodded and walked over to his little corner, though his movements were a little stiff with the burn over his back.

"Vulpix? Make another Will-O-Wisp."

Another ball of bright white flames surged from her mouth, floating up in the air until it bobbed lightly over her head. The three gleaming balls of fire had so far stayed the same, and Bill was definitely right. Though they were stronger than the average Will-O-Wisp, this exercise would really help Vulpix learn how to control her power.

"Make sure to keep them the same, and if you feel up to the task you can try moving them around a bit. Don't let them go out."

She nodded at him and angled her head up, sitting on the ground. There was a hiss as a piece of grass burst into the flame but she smothered it with a paw, staring up at her three fireballs.

Ash smiled at all of his pokemon and settled back against the trunk of a tree, pulling out his pokedex. It would be nice to have some more nutritional and more focused foods to feed his pokemon…

They made it thirty minutes before things started to go wrong.

Vulpix had three Will-O-Wisps floating above her head. She had started to rotate them in a small circle, keeping their brilliant white flames burning the same. But one fireball swerved too fast and flung itself off of alignment, bobbing through the air. She barked furiously at it, managing to make it stop and start to float back to her.

The other two Will-O-Wisps began to fall.

She stuck out her tails, whipping them up and hitting the fireballs back into the air. But as she reached out to take control of those two, the other fell to the ground and promptly caught some plants on fire.

She flung herself over them to extinguish them and the other Will-O-Wisps flickered out of existence.

Ash sighed, gave her a little pep talk, and watched her very carefully for the next couple of minutes as she went at it again, burning balls floating in the airs. At least she had stopped moving them.

Another thirty minutes passed.

With a startled hiss, Apep fell from his coiled position on the stick and hit the ground hard, sitting in a mixture of poison. He grumbled, shaking his head, and then hissed at the ground. Ash sighed, and went to help him up. The snake didn't fight but seemed a bit annoyed at failing. He shot an absolutely furious look at the still-training Ro and tightened his muscles, tail rattling.

Ro didn't even look over. He was still going strong, horn glowing blue with Peck as he lumbered around the field and jabbed at imaginary opponents. Ash didn't want him working on actual trees yet, just working on getting the motion perfected.

Actually, Ash was very proud with Ro. He managed to last two whole hours before something went horribly wrong.

He lunged with his horn in Horn Attack, darting forward to build up his power. The ground disappeared beneath his feet and cold water replaced the solid dirt. With a splash, he shot into the pond.

Ash lunged to his feet, yanking off his pokeball. He raced forward to the edge of the pond, ready to recall his pokemon, only to be greeted with Ro walking along the bottom of the pond, seeming very confused.

The pokemon looked up at him and started toward the edge of the pond, walking up the side until he emerged at the top, shaking his head off of a few water droplets. But he didn't seem out of breath or panicked.

Ash narrowed his eyes, thoroughly confused until it came to him.

Ro was kingsize, which gave him bigger everything. So his lungs were exponentially bigger, especially to be able to support his enormous body.

And with his bulk, he had sunk immediately to the bottom of the pond without a hope of floating. But with his huge lungs, he had been able to casually walk out of pond without even seeming panicked.

That was definitely something he could use. "Hey buddy, can you use Toxic Spikes? Aim them at the water, please."

Ro nodded, his mouth popping open. He spat out globs of poison that immediately hardened the second they came in contact with the air. But when they hit the water, the Toxic Spikes dissolved.

The poison seeped into the water, though it wasn't nearly enough to turn it any different color. But Ro's foot tingled with the poison pressing against his foot. Thankfully he was a poison type, so he didn't get poisoned, but the effect was definitely there.

His second clue was when a furious poliwag burst from the water, gurgling angrily at him. It winced and cringed with the effects of poison coursing through its body, weakening it thoroughly.

He didn't get the chance to fight it before it waddled away, heading deeper into the forest.

Ash blinked. "Ro, can you check how long you can hold your breath? Just stick your head in the water and wait as long as you can."

The nidoran nodded and did just that. Ash counted in his head, idly noting that the water appeared to have soothed the burn on Ro's back. It made sense.

At two minutes and twenty-seven seconds, Ro resurfaced. He panted slightly but recovered in a few seconds, turning around to stare up at Ash. The trainer could barely contain his excitement.

"Okay. Can you stick your head in again and fire off Toxic Spikes, then see how long you need until you come up for air? If you can, fire off another Toxic Spikes if you have enough air, bud."

Ro dunked his head back under again. Ash could see through the ripples a few dark purple splotches quickly fading into the clear water. Twenty seconds later he saw another batch. Five seconds after that Ro raised his head, spitting out a mouthful of purple-tinged water.

Ash grinned widely. This could be a gamechanger. If Ro was hit into the water, which would probably happen with more powerful moves like Bubble Beam or Hydro Pump, then Ash had about thirty seconds before he had to recall Ro, thirty seconds where the pokemon would poison the field enough to seriously take away one of Misty's abilities to hide her pokemon. That would turn it into a straight fight with Apep.

"Okay, bud. Back to training with Vulpix, but we'll cover this a lot more tomorrow."

Ro barely made it a couple of steps before Vulpix flung a Will-O-Wisp at him, barking happily as it exploded over his back. He flinched and bellowed at her, but the threatening sound didn't mean much as she flung out another fireball to circle over her head. Her tails flicked, ready to catch falling fire.

Ash settled back on his tree trunk, watching his team train.

Eventually, he had Vulpix work her way up to four. She struggled mightily but by the end of the day seemed to have made some progress - but she had perfected something else. With a sort of childish glee, she would support three fireballs over her head while batting one up and down with her tails. Ash had thought about reprimanding her, but then she had whipped her tails up and spiked the Will-O-Wisp at the fire. It streaked toward the pond, exploding on the surface in a burst of steam.

The speed was definitely something he would work on, and he congratulated her greatly.

Apep hated his task but he had stayed on the stick for the entire five hours, falling only twice and immediately getting back up. Afterword, of course, he had slumped on the ground and refused to move. He had only shifting slightly to get on his stomach to eat his food and curl up on the bed to sleep, but he had definitely been exhausted. Ash would start him with swimming tomorrow.

Ro had made a good headway as well. He hated being hit by the fireballs but had managed to keep fighting through most of three hours after falling in the water, though Ash had had to immediately heal him up afterward. There had been angry grumbles but Ash promised him they'd do something different tomorrow.

They went to sleep at the Pokecenter and woke up again the next day and began training immediately.

Apep swam well, though Ash always kept a close on him. He moved very fluidly, slithering through the water and managing to keep his head above the waves. On the third day, when Ash had him hold a rock in his mouth in order to be able to compensate for the weight of a pokemon, he had struggled, but he had eventually righted himself. Apep would never be a water type pokemon but he wasn't half bad at swimming.

Ro spent the third day dodging Will-O-Wisps from Vulpix. Ash had drawn a box on the ground in the rough size of one of the platforms. If Ro went out of the box, he would have to let himself be hit be hit by one. He was only hit five times, though he had angrily growled at Vulpix when she hit him with a vicious one on the last time. Her fireballs had gotten stronger, though she had still been able to maintain them. Ro had the third day to just work on his attacks, which he greatly appreciated.

Vulpix learned control, though definitely not enough. But she was able to maintain five Will-O-Wisps above her head and fire them off to hit mostly accurately. It took her almost two seconds to make new ones, which Ash planned to work on. Although when she was creating more than two in one go they were nearly instantaneous. On the third day she decreased the time a little but not nearly enough to be the instant fireball that Ash wanted. But the expression on her face told him that she would get there eventually.

But as the third day drew to an end and he curled up in bed, tucking blankets over his pokemon, he knew they were ready for his gym battle. He reached a hand out to stroke along each of their backs, though he had to stretch to reach Ro, who was curled up on the ground. Vulpix had taken his spot by his legs. He scratched her ears and brushed over Apep's cool scales.

Apep snorted and went back to sleep.

The next day dawned. He had woken up about forty-five minutes early from nerves was already pacing around the room, checking the contents of his pockets and making sure he had two potions. Apep threw his purple scales over the indent where Ash had been, taking in the body heat.

He pulled out his pokedex again, reading over everything he had bookmarked and as many new pages they had on the Waterflower sisters. Misty Waterflower, beginner trainer battler.

Ro pushed his nose into Ash's leg, careful to avoid using his horn. Ash stopped pacing and stroked around the base of his ears, to which the nidoran rumbled very happily. The muscles could get sore sometimes because of how large and disproportional the pokemon's ears were.

Vulpix hopped daintily off the bed, her fireproof blanket filled with him. He had been very glad he requested both poison and fire type blankets, as she probably would have set the room on fire. He'd definitely have to upgrade his current outside blanket, which he was sure she would appreciate.

The sun peeked over the horizon just as the clock switch to 8:30, which was his time to leave. Gyms opened at nine and he wanted to get there before any other trainer in order to have enough time afterward talking with his pokemon and congratulating them for a job well done. Maybe, he hoped, Misty might even be like Brock and might help him out with a few tips. He wanted to catch a water type pokemon eventually and she was the master to ask, though her older sisters might be better.

He pushed the door open and walked down the stairs into the main area of the Pokecenter. To his surprise, there were already trainers there, readying their pokemon and talking to Nurse Joy. Maybe there were swarm pokemon around? That always got everyone excited to catch the often rare pokemon.

Waving a hand to Nurse Joy, he stepped outside and headed toward the Cerulean City gym. The sun gleamed overhead, shining golden lights over the silver buildings of the town. Their reflections bounced off of the lake and Ash could see a school of magikarp swimming close to shore, their orange bodies shining through the clear water. They seemed to be pretty used to not being caught by trainers.

Not many people were out, which he appreciated. He had already told his pokemon of his plan and they understood what to do.

The gym was an enormous, low building, made of a heavy grey stone. Windows were perched high on the walls and the door was around eight feet tall and double wide. It didn't seem like the best place to fight with a flying type, but the gym was still very impressive. The grey of the stone gleamed with sunlight, and he could see tiny flecks of mica rock making it shine.

He pushed open the door, ready to fight, only to be greeted with a long time of trainers stretching only a few feet from the entrance.

Ash blinked.

There were at least twelve, each tossing pokeballs up and down and chatting to friends and rivals. They were all about his age, though a sullen thirteen-year-old glared down at the short little beginning trainers as he read his pokedex.

Why were there so many trainers?

He scanned over the crowd, blanching as he realized how long it might take to get through all of them. His battle took maybe fifteen to twenty minutes, and that was without asking Brock for a million and one tips.

He caught sight of brilliant red, spiky hair, and grinned.

"Hey, Gary!" He called, cupping his hands over his mouth.

Gary immediately snapped to attention, turning around and stretching up to see who was calling him. The second he saw Ash grinning at him from the back of the line, he took one glance at his spot only a little farther up and left it, trotting toward the back to slide in the line in front of Ash.

"Well, if it isn't Ashy boy." Gary and Ash both laughed before hugging each other. They hadn't seen each other in about a month, when they normally didn't go two days without challenging each other in some way back at Pallet Town. It had been far too long where Ash didn't have to be vigilant for Gary flicking some sort of pinecone at his nose and talking about accuracy training.

"Gar-bear!" Ash crowed.

Another laugh. Ash immediately jumped into conversation, popping out a question. "How's your journey going? Did you win the Boulder Badge already or are you that behind?" Despite already knowing, he couldn't help but tease his best friend.

Gary shoved his shoulder. "I know for a fact I beat you to it, because I asked Brock about a scrawny little eight-year-old and he said he hadn't seen you yet."

Ash's eyes flicked down to his waist, where six pokeballs were displayed proudly on his belt. He blinked at the number. "Six already? Have you already gone to the Safari Zone?"

Gary shook his head. "Nah. I just like to catch as much pokemon as I can in the beginning so I can train them all up. You'll never know when you'll need a type advantage that you didn't think of before. I'm probably going to stop at around ten-twelve ish. I've only got six now."

He grinned at Ash's three pokeballs. "And that means I've got twice as much as you! Wait, but Gary!" He forced his voice into high, mocking tones. "I'm gonna beat you at everything! I'll be a Pokemon Master!"

Ash shoved him, laughing. That particular conversation had happened when they were six and Gary had never let him live it down.

He turned back to the line, watching as a trainer proudly bearing a Cascade Badge walked out the doors and another trainer was led through a small door by a cheerful girl with waist-length orange hair. "Why's this placed so crowded? I thought trainers generally tried to battle alone."

Gary grumbled, annoyed. "The three older sisters - _Sensational Sisters_ , seriously - are nice, but they're useless at battling. So for the past year, their younger sister Misty has been taking over all the battles. But ever since that updated bounty for the Team Rocket dude came out, she's announced that she's going to take a couple weeks off hunting him down and training her team up. So everyone's rushing it to battle her instead of having to fight the other Waterflowers."

Ash groaned. That meant several hours waiting in line - okay, about two, he was exaggerating - and Misty was going to be battlehoned while he didn't even have a chance to warm up.

Gary very smoothly put a hand in front of Ash. "I also hope you realize that because I gave up my spot in line for you, I'm going first. Because I had already waited for ten minutes before you came in."

Ash nodded, though he teasingly stepped around Gary's arm. The boy slapped his chest.

They talked about everything and anything after that. Gary had a funny story about how on his second day out he had been plagued by a secret force stealing his food and blankets before he finally stayed up all night and managed to catch the beast, which turned out to be a meowth with the egg move of Hypnosis, which it used to keep Gary and his pokemon from not noticing it.

Gary described, with almost frightening passion, the sheer unholy joy he had had in battling the creature and catching it. Ash was nearly rolling on the ground when the boy admitted how he had lost over five packs of food in only two days, and he had only noticed when the last one went missing.

Ash didn't have many funny stories, but he was able to talk about things he'd seen his ekans do over the trip. They both knew without saying that they'd be battling after this gym battle and neither wanted to give away what pokemon they had to avoid the other coming up with strategies.

Gary even managed to coax the story of Mount Moon out of Ash, though he laughed loudly as he realized that the reason Misty was leaving the gym was because of his sob story.

After a while, they had inched their way up until Gary was the next. A trainer left with a dejected look on their face, holding two pokeballs tight in his fists, and then Daisy Waterflower opened the door to let Gary through.

Ash piped up. "Am I allowed to watch him battle? I'm going to battle next, but I'd just like to watch."

She shrugged. "Sure. Just sit in the stands and wait 'til he's finished before coming down. No pokemon allowed out in the seats, though."

He thanked her and followed Gary into the main gym room, who smirked at him over his shoulder. "Tryin' to get a head start on my fighting patterns, Ash? You still won't be able to beat me!"

"We'll see!" Ash challenged, turning left and heading up to the seats. The stands were pretty big, much larger than Brock's, a nice light blue with a hard plastic seat. He couldn't complain - having fabric seats in a water type gym would be a nightmare to end all nightmares with the constant water vapor and occasional thunderstorms.

Misty Waterflower was a short girl with fiery red hair down to her shoulders. She was wearing simple shorts and a T-shirt, one with the Cascade Badge on the back. Two attendants were grabbing her two new pokeballs as she asked Gary how many badges he had gotten so far.

She had to be using so many max revives today. With the sheer amount of trainers, most of them beginners, she had to heal up her pokemon after every battle.

He remembered that she had multiple teams for beginners, and guessed he wouldn't be fighting the same one as Gary. But he could still get an idea of how she fought with her pokemon.

Gary took his position on one side, a platform only a bit away from his feet. He readied his pokeball, though Misty threw first.

A staryu appeared on her side. It rotated its appendages, its star shaped body twirling through the air as it gently touched down on the platform closest to her. Its brilliant red gem gleamed, standing out from its gold and tan body. They were deep sea pokemon, but this year had been a warm front - many pokemon only found deep in the oceans had come closer to shore with the warmer temperatures of the water. People had found gyarados casually swimming up rivers like it was the most natural thing ever, amd pokemon from other regions were ending up here as well.

Gary's pokemon appeared in a bust of scarlet light. A yellow body shaped like a tube topped in several large green leaves with two narrowed eyes. A weepinbell. Of course Gary would have one of his pokemon evolved before he did, though bellsprout didn't spend very long in their first form.

The referee called out "Gary Oak vs Misty Waterflower! Weepinbell vs Staryu! Begin!"

Gary snapped out with the first move. "Vine Whip! Get it going and if it gets close, use Sleep Powder!"

Two green vines, thin but agile, burst from among the leaves on Weepinbell's top. With deadly accuracy they flung themselves toward Staryu, who just floated a bit in the air, letting them flash below it.

But they came around from behind and struck Staryu in the back. There was a squeak and its gem flashed before it immediately fell into the water at Misty's command, whose blue eyes were narrowed.

Gary stared at the water, but despite being brown Staryu managed to disguise itself in the water surprisingly well. It must have been a lot deeper than he thought, and Gary had no idea where the pokemon was.

"Staryu! Come up and use Water Gun!"

Staryu exploded out of the water much closer to Weepinbell than Ash would have thought. Its gem glowed before a barrage of water burst from its tip, slamming straight on into Weepinbell's face.

The flycatcher pokemon stumbled back with a shriek of surprise. But Gary's words stuck in its mind and with a growl on concentration, a cloud of gentle white specks appeared around it.

The powder hovered menacingly, and Staryu obviously knew the danger of getting caught. But it was already on the edge of the cloud and by floating back a few feet, it managed to avoid most of the Sleep Powder, though a few landed on its limbs. Its gem flashed softly and although it slumped in midair a bit, it stayed floating.

At least until Weepinbell's Vine Whip smacked it out of the air.

It gurgled in surprise, slamming down onto another platform. Misty squeaked and immediately began to command again. "In the water! Wash off the Sleep Powder, then get ready to use Psywave!"

Its gem started to glow a light blue as it flipped off the platform and disappeared underwater once again. Ash could barely see the faint glow from its gem as it went deeper, but he had an idea of where it was - and so did Gary. "Poison Powder! Over the water to your right!"

Weepinbell flapped its leaves and a dark purple powder emerged, a bit heavier and larger than the Sleep Powder. It floated for a bit before falling to the water, coating the surface in a dark purple.

But it didn't dissolve, just sitting on the water. Maybe the fact that it was the fact it was in powder form? Poison Powder was a tiny pocket of poison surrounded by a bubble of air so it would float. The air must be protecting it from dissolving into the water.

Staryu bust from the water right underneath the Poison Powder. It winced as it flew into the air, but its gem glowed a brilliant blue and a burst of light streaked from it.

Weepinbell slapped its vines against the ground, managing to push it high enough into the air to land on the closest platform. The Psywave slammed into the old platform and the water rippled from the strength of the attack.

Ash whistled. Stay away from Misty's psychic attacks, good to know.

But Staryu was poisoned now, though not that heavily. Misty glared at the powder before commanding her pokemon again. "Use Swift!"

"Vine Whip to hit them away and attack!"

With an almost shudder, star shaped rays of light appeared from Staryu's gem. They streaked through the air, changing their course as Weepinbell moved further back on its platform. An attack that never missed unless countered.

Two vines slapped away every ray except for two, which hit Weepinbell between its eyes with enough force to knock it back. But its vines shot father forward and wrapped around Staryu's limbs. It struggled violently but Weepinbell just slammed it against the platform until it collapsed.

The referee jerked her head down. "Staryu is unconscious! First round to Gary Oak!"

Misty sighed as she recalled Staryu, immediately handing the pokeball off to another attendant who rushed off to heal the pokemon. "Not bad, kid," she said, raising her voice to let Gary hear. "Starmie, go!"

Her second pokemon was the evolved form. It was larger than Staryu, though not by much, but it had double as many limbs. Its purple body still contrasted with the glowing scarlet gem, and Ash idly remembered that it was now part psychic type. If Staryu's psychic attacks were so powerful, he didn't want to know what this pokemon could do. It floated in midair, not even pausing to land on the platform.

Gary held up his pokeball and recalled Weepinbell, immediately throwing out his next pokemon.

Squirtle… was much larger.

His ears had grown, preparing to turn into the curly white tufts that wartortle were known for. His shell was ridged and was almost too large for the pokemon, and his legs had lengthened to the point where he almost looked gangly. He rumbled out a challenge, voice much lower than before.

Ash gave him a grand total of three days before he evolved, and that was the maximum. With his luck, Squirtle would evolve in this battle and then his battle against Gary would be all the more difficult.

Gary grinned as the referee announced the battle, and barely gave Misty a second to breath before he started commanding. "Get close! Don't stop using Bubble Beam!"

Squirtle pounded his fists together before opening his mouth. A burst of tiny pressurized bubbles burst out of it. They were much more concentrated and larger than the regular Bubble as they raced toward Starmie.

A few glanced off of Starmie, exploding on contact, but it just brushed the rest away with its gem glowing a faint blue. Misty grinned. "Starmie! Psywave! Don't hold back with this one!"

Squirtle bounced from platform to platform, leaping like it was the easiest thing in the world. He launched a few more Bubble Beams, though they were noticeably weaker than the one he had taken time to charge up.

The Psywave rocketed toward Squirtle, who immediately popped back into his shell with the move Withdraw. The psychic energy slammed into his back and pushed him off the edge into the water, but he popped back up looking relatively unharmed. His eyes glinted darkly, though.

"Get close! Use our move!" Gary called, clenching his fists. He looked thoroughly excited.

Starmie took a second break to recover from using the powerful move and couldn't do much as Squirtle lunged at it, mouth glinting a dark black.

The move Bite snagged Starmie out of the air and slammed it into the platform.

Starmie shrieked, gem flickering rapidly. The super effective move obviously pained it, and Squirtle wasn't done yet. He let go for a second only to use Bite again, mouth gleaming black.

Misty growled. "Starmie, Rapid Spin! Get out of there!"

Starmie's second pair of limbs swung into Squirtle's face as they spun, dislodging his grip and pushing it off. Starmie immediately turned to jump in the water, nearly collapsing in it.

Gary wasn't done yet. "Follow it, Squirtle! Use Bite again!"

Squirtle jumped in the water a second after Starmie, sinking into the ripples caused by the mysterious pokemon. Within a few seconds, they were out of sight under the waves.

Misty looked worried, though Gary just had a smirk on his face. He had obviously trained his pokemon to be able to hunt underwater, and it showed as after a minute, Squirtle flopped back up on shore with an unconscious Starmie in his hands.

The battle underwater had taken its toll, though. Though Starmie had another Bite mark on its front, Squirtle was trembling from multiple bruises on its body and an almost burn over his foot. Psywave was a powerful move for any pokemon to get hit by, and he nearly collapsed once Misty recalled Starmie.

"Starmie is unconscious! The gym battle goes to Gary Oak from Pallet Town!" The referee shouted, quickly taking a swig of water. The man looked like he would rather be anywhere other than here.

Misty walked around the pool to congratulate Gary, reaching behind her to pull out a shiny blue object from a pouch on her hip. A Cascade Badge. She handed it over, said a few words, before turning to the door and shouting "Next!"

Ash hurried down from the stands, making it in front of her before she could turn around. She raised an eyebrow but shrugged. "Are you my next challenger?"

He nodded, hands falling to his pokeballs.

"How many badges?"

"Just one."

She nodded, snapping her fingers three times to the closest attendant. They immediately ran off, coming back a few seconds later with two more pokeballs. Misty headed back toward her side of the pool, pressing a button a thin pedestal.

With a soft rumble, a wave surged over the pool. It splashed over the walls but didn't go above, keeping his feet dry. The leftover Poison Powder was swept away, and though the platforms shook they stayed where they were. In a couple of seconds, the battle field was clean and ready.

"Name?" Misty shouted to him, readying her first pokeball at her side. She seemed relaxed again, brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes.

"Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town," he shouted back. She looked up at the referee and he nodded back at her.

With a gentle toss, she called out her first pokemon. It appeared over the water, hovering in midair.

A gentle blue with wing-like nubs on its back, not more than a foot tall. It squirted a burst of water in the air and looked around, blinking large red eyes. Horsea were pretty common around Cerulean City, though their evolved forms were. Seadra were found at sea while kingdra were monsters living far in the ocean.

Ash threw out his pokeball, aiming at a platform more in the middle. Ro appeared in a burst of crimson, bellowing out a challenge as his barbs extended fully and his horn leaked poison.

Misty raised an eyebrow but shrugged, eyes flashing with strategies. Horsea narrowed its eyes at the nidoran, who merely snorted at it. He wasn't feeling very threatened by the tiny pipsqueak in front of him.

"Ash Ketchum vs Misty Waterflower! Nidoran vs Horsea, begin!"

"Agility, Horsea!" Misty barked, hands at her sides.

"Get ready, Ro! Poison Sting when it's far and Horn Attack when it's close! Try not to let it hit you," he shouted to his pokemon, before closing his mouth. He'd let Ro run to show for a bit before he had to step in. He trusted the nidoran's battle instincts a bit more than he trusted his own.

Horsea's body flashed brightly and it fell into the water, keeping the upper half of its body out. Ash remembered that Horsea had the ability of Swift Swim, which meant they got faster in water or rain. Yeah, it was a good thing he sent Ro out there instead of Apep. There would be no way Apep could ever snag something moving that fast out of the air or off a platform. It would be going lightning fast.

His theory was proved correct as Horsea started to move, flapping small flippers and whipping its tail back and forth. It shot around the pool, getting close enough to circle around Ro's platform but not be attacked.

"Bubble!" Misty called.

Blue bubbles shot from Horsea's snout, but Ro lumbered slightly to the side and they flew past harmlessly. Going at the speeds Horsea was moving at greatly lowered its accuracy, which was very useful for Ro.

Ro began firing off Poison Stings, though they just hit the water or random platforms. Horsea dodged every one, letting out a cheerful trill as it ducked underwater to avoid Ro's last strike.

Misty grinned, but Ash wasn't done yet. "Peck! Use the momentum!"

Horsea popped back above the surface and was greeted by a faceful of Ro's horn. It squeaked and fell back into the water, disappearing immediately. Ash cursed. Ro hadn't been able to inject his poison in time, so all they had managed to land was a hit instead of poisoning it.

But a hit nonetheless. "Get ready, bud!"

"Water Gun! Shotgun!"

Horsea burst from the water a safe distance away, eyes narrowed and a light bruise on its face. It took a deep breath from a stream of water snapped toward Ro. The nidoran shifted slightly to dodge it but another blast followed the first, and he couldn't dodge that one. More short streams of water snapped toward him and they were slowly pushing him to the edge of the platform even as he bellowed in rage.

"Poison Sting! Shoot it above the Water Guns!" Ash shouted. This Horsea was a fair bit stronger than he would have thought.

Ro managed to stabilize a foot, and he reared back and shot out two dozen streams of poison, watching them all harden in midair as he landed heavily on the platform, shaking it mightily.

Ash heard a squeak of pain and knew at least one had connected. The Water Guns stopped a moment later and he could see Horsea with two Poison Stings hanging off its body, the tips embedded past its skin.

It squeaked again, wincing heavily. Poisoned for sure, and Ash could be happier. "Hit it again if you can, Ro, but make sure to keep dodging!"

The nidoran opened his mouth and shot more Poison Stings, but Horsea blew them away with a Water Gun. Violently shaking itself, the Poison Stings unlodged themselves from its skin and fall harmlessly to the water below.

Misty scowled over the pool. "Horsea! Use Brine! Keep it up until it really starts to hurt! Dodge anymore Poison Stings!"

Ash grimaced. Brine was a difficult move to counter. The water was filled with a corrosive that ate away at pokemon's defense. Once they had been hit enough, it could do up to double the damage on the inner, sensitive layer of skin, which would knock anyone's pokemon out fast. If Ro was hit enough, that could mean the end of the battle.

"Dodge it! Hold out for as long as you can!"

A burst of dark, almost purple water shot out of Horsea's snout. Ro shuffled to the edge of the platform and managed to avoid most of it, though the edge spray hit his shoulder. He bellowed angrily, the corrosive already working on his skin. The second blast of water hit him straight on.

But Horsea drifted in the air, skin starting to darken from the poison in its veins. As it worked harder to use the move Brine, its heart pumped the poison faster through its body and it was definitely feeling effects.

"Just a little longer!" Ash shouted.

Another Brine exploded over Ro's back, but with that, Horsea closed its eyes and collapsed toward the water below. Misty sighed and pulled out its pokeball, recalling it back quickly.

"Good job. That nidoran is pretty strong," she shouted across, handing off the pokeball to her attendants.

"Thanks!"

The referee cleared his throat. "Horsea is unconscious! First round goes to Ash Ketchum!"

With a look up at the referee, Misty threw out her second pokeball.

The pokemon that came out was a fair bit bigger, though thankfully it wasn't large enough to be a seadra, which were known for fiery tempers and vicious battle rages, though even theirs didn't hold a candle to horsea's final form of kingdra.

It was a orange with black dots speckled over its body. Enormous white fins were on its back and rear end, fluttering slightly as it floated in mid air. Its eyes were and staring, a pupil that nearly took up the whole eye sitting in the middle.

Seaking. Evolved form of goldeen and a pure water type. They were known for having a surprising strength for their light weight and small stature. He wouldn't do well to underestimate its strength.

He kept out Ro. They had to poison the water.

The referee jerked his hand down. "Nidoran vs Seaking, begin!"

Without so much as a word from Misty, Seaking immediately dove down into the water, fading from sight. Ash frowned as he stared over the water. "Keep an eye out, bud. Don't let him surprise you."

Ro rumbled and stepped closer to the edge of the platform, staring deep into the water. He didn't react, so Ash guessed he didn't see anything. Okay, this method of trying to guess where they were was annoying.

But his attention was diverted when Misty grinned. "Seaking, up!"

It didn't explode out of the water like Horsea had, instead popping up right underneath Ro. Before the nidoran could do anything, Seaking swam forward and slammed its head into the platform.

It jerked back and Ro stumbled and fell into the water.

A timer immediately appeared in his head.

 _Thirty, twenty-nine, twenty-eight…_

He made a show of fumbling with his pokeball, trying to not make Misty suspicious for not recalling Ro immediately. He almost dropped it in his faux fumbling and his panic spiked high.

But there was a soft purple burning beneath the surface of the water, though it faded quickly. Misty was too concentrated on him to notice what was going on.

 _Thirteen, twelve, eleven…_

Another burst of purple, fading just as fast. He pressed the button and watched as a cloud of scarlet appeared below the water, shooting up into his pokeball. He would try his hardest not to put Ro back out there again.

But the Toxic Spikes were doing their job. Seaking had floated out of the water so he wasn't feeling it yet, but he would. With any luck, Misty wouldn't notice it immediately and she'd have Seaking so difficult moves to have Seaking's heart beat faster, and then Apep could finish the job.

"Sorry," he whispered to the pokeball.

The referee stared at him. "Kid, either send out the nidoran again or pull out your next pokemon."

Ash threw out his first pokeball. Apep appeared on the platform in a coil of furious purple scales, hissing darkly and rattling his tail.

"Ekans vs Seaking, begin!"

Misty started things off. "Get down! Knock it off balance if you can!"

Seaking dived into the water, disappearing from view. Ash barely saw the flinch as it touched the water but it was there - faint enough it wouldn't affect him much, but the poison would only get stronger the longer he spent in the water.

"Wrap when it comes back up!" He called to Apep.

To his delight, Misty kept Seaking underwater for a fairly long time. Apep got twitchy fast, spinning around in every direction the second he heard a splash or a ripple, but Seaking stayed down.

Until he popped out and shot a spinning ball of water. Water Pulse, which would only hurt.

Unfortunately for Ash, Apep had been facing the other direction. It slammed into his tail and sent him off of the platform with a startled hiss.

Unfortunately for Misty, Apep knew how to swim.

He bobbed back up to the surface and began to swim, thrashing his tail from side to side and propelling him through the water. Seaking was low enough that Ash managed to leap up just enough to get his head over Seaking's body.

The momentum launched them both onto another platform, where Apep immediately stretched his coils over Seaking's body. The goldfish pokemon spat water at him but Apep just tightened his grip.

Misty didn't react, just letting her pokemon do its thing. And Seaking was ready - the second Apep tried to wrap a coil around its neck, it reared back and blasted him with a powerful Megahorn attack.

Apep was resistant to bug type moves but the sheer power behind the attack ripped him off and threw him back into the water. A drop of water slipped into the water, the stab wound weeping.

There was a furious hiss and then Apep was swimming again, gold eyes narrowed in abject anger.

Seaking, perhaps wisely, ducked below the surface of the water. The poison coursed stronger through its veins.

Apep, however, was having none of that. He ducked his head beneath the surface, eyelidless eyes not irritated by the water in the slightest. In only a few seconds, he had located his enemy and was preparing to duck under the water and grab it.

Misty stomped her foot on the ground. Seaking burst from the water, twisting until it could see Apep. It launched another Water Pulse without a command from Misty, the ball of water hitting Apep directly on the head.

Apep was in such a fury that he only hissed in rage, shaking off the water despite the bruise building over his snout. He swam forward.

"Get on a platform and use Iron Jump!" Ash shouted. "Grab it!"

Apep changed course and slithered up onto a nearby platform. His tail glowed a shining silver before he coiled up and slammed it into the ground, sending him flying through the air. Seaking didn't have a chance to flee before Apep got his fangs around the pokemon, fangs glowing a dark purple with Poison Fang.

He landed back on the water, managed to swim forward to get most of the weight on a platform. He bit down harder on the wriggling fish.

Seaking fell unconscious.

Misty sighed and recalled her second pokemon, and Apep's jaws snapped shut on nothing. He hissed in annoyance, fully pulling himself back up on the platform.

The referee snapped his hand down. "Seaking is unconscious! Gym battle goes to Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town!"

Misty came around to him, reaching into her pouch. "Nice battle, kid. I like your trick with poisoning the pool."

He blinked at her.

She laughed. "Yeah, I figured it out a little late, huh? Anyway, your ekans is pretty strong. Make sure to get his swimming stronger - he's a bit rough right now. He'll need to be stronger to support his weight once he's an arbok."

"Thanks." And he meant it. Tips were wonderfully helpful, and he could see what she meant.

And with that, she handed him a Cascade Badge. It was a teardrop shape, carved from what looked like sea glass stained a light blue. The back had her name and the name of the badge, as well as the pin he would use to attach it to his badge case.

He turned to thank her again, but she was already facing the door and shouting for the next contestant. But he didn't press it. Misty had seemed nice, and she cared for her pokemon a lot. He could forgive her for her short attitude when he remembered she still had seven more trainers to fight today.

Holding out his pokeball, he recalled Apep quickly and made to leave quietly through the door.

Gary ran down from the stands, clapping a hand on his shoulder. "Nice job, Ash. Come on - let's head to the Pokecenter and get our pokemon healed up before I totally crush you in our battle."

Ash grinned. "Oh, you wish."

* * *

Nurse Joy smiled at them as she finished up with pulling Weepinbell from her machine. There were two machines - day-time use and then the one she used at night. For the day one, it did a basic heal in a fraction of the time, though she highly suggested bringing them back at night for another light checkup. The one used at night did a much more thorough job but it could last for hours, often overnight. They had both asked for the day heals and their pokemon were out in around ten minutes.

"There's a battle field behind the Pokecenter, but I don't want to hear any complaints that you chased off any other trainers or got too destructive. If you want to go crazy, do it away from the town."

"Of course, Nurse Joy!" Ash said, clipping Apep and Ro's pokeballs back to his belt. Gary accepted Weepinbell from her and attached that to his waist as well. They both grinned at each other.

Running out of the Pokecenter, they ran around the side of the building and ended up on a dirt field, one that had probably been created with a powerful Earthquake. The sides were lined with railings for watchers to stand behind but no one was there. Every trainer who wanted to battle was at the gym to get their challenge in.

Ash immediately headed toward one side, grabbing Vulpix's pokeball. She deserved the chance to battle, and he guessed that they'd both use their starters at the end of the battle. Gary grabbed his own pokeball, grinning.

Ash threw first.

Vulpi appeared in a burst of scarlet, stretching happily and flexing her tails. She froze as she looked around and saw hard packed dirt instead of a training field or another route or even their room.

He winced under her glare. "Sorry, girl. You ready to battle?"

She considered it for a second before nodding, finishing flexing out each of her limbs. Smoke trickled from her paws as she stepped on a lone piece of straw.

Gary frowned as he saw the curling scars etched over her body. "Hey Ash, mind telling me where you got her?"

"Mount Moon." He gestured to her tails. "She was attacked by Team Rocket and managed to escape, but was really hurt. Her fire powers are really strong but water type moves can almost kill her. We're still working on a way to combat that, so don't throw out Squirtle, okay?"

Gary nodded. "Okay, but I want to hear the full story later." He chucked his pokeball onto the field.

A persian appeared, blinking large golden eyes as the gem on its forehead flared with light. It was small and had probably just evolved, but there was still a good amount of strength in its coiled muscles It yawned, showing off sharp canines that could probably deliver a wicked bite.

"How do you keep evolving your pokemon?" Ash pinched his nose. Ro might be close, sure, but Apep still had a fair bit. "I'm guessing that's the meowth that gave you so much trouble?"

"Yep." Gary patted it on the shoulder, and it let loose a low rumble that was probably a purr. "She's my second pokemon, and Weepinbell was my third. I don't have any other evolved pokemon, though my spearow is pretty close. I guess I'm just better than you, Ashy boy. You going to fight or just keep talking?"

Ash grinned. Evolved or not, Gary didn't know the sheer strength of Vulpix's fire attacks, and that was definitely something he was going to enjoy shoving in his friend's face. "Vulpix! Quick Attack!"

Vulpix's form blurred as she ran forward, tails straight out to keep her balance. White energy, the one from normal type moves, flickered around her body.

"Persian, Scratch once it gets close enough and then Swift once you knock it back!" Gary called.

Persian grunted, forced a few steps back as Vulpix slammed into her chest. But the classy cat pokemon reared back, claws glowing, and raked them down Vulpix's back.

Vulpix squeaked and lunged backward, using Quick Attack to get away in time. Persian gave her an unimpressed look, but it faded as she winced when she put her paw down. Looking at the underside, she hissed at the blackened fur.

Gary's eyebrows furrowed. "Flame Body? But vulpix can't-"

Ash grinned. "Vulpix, Flamethrower!"

A wave of fire roared over the field, burning bright and crackling furiously. The flames burned on even as Vulpix closed her mouth and dove into the broiling flames. Her bright red fur disappeared into the reaching tongues of fire.

Persian yowled as the flames hit her, charing her fur. Then she yelped as Vulpix hit her with a powerful Tail Whip across the face before darting away with Quick Attack once again, letting the flames die down.

Ash couldn't hold back his laughter as the last flame disappeared into smoke in the air. Gary stood there, eyes wide and mouth popped open. Persian stood there, fur blackened and face snapped to the side by the attack.

"Fuck, man! How the hell is your vulpix so powerful?"

"I told you I'd tell you later." He grinned. Gary just shook his head. A furious roar interrupted them.

Persian shook herself, soot falling from her fur. Her eyes were slits and her fangs bared, flickering with the darkness of Bite. She took several slow steps forward, paws silent as she stalked her prey.

Vulpix looked intimidated.

Gary grinned. "Oh, did I mention that Persian doesn't like fire? It's one of her pet peeves, really."

Ash frowned. "Vulpix, Fire Whip! Aim for the feet!"

A burning ball of white flame burst into the air between them, several shooting from Vulpix's open mouth. They hovered in midair before Vulpix turned around and slammed them with Tail Whip, firing them at lightning speeds toward Persian's paws.

The pokemon flinched. One landed on the ground but the other two exploded on her front paws, burning the fur there even more. But the second for Vulpix to turn back around was all the time she needed.

Her eyes burned a fierce, angry blue, the gem on her forehead flashing brightly. As Vulpix turned around, their eyes made contact and the fox pokemon swayed on her paws, trembling. Persian snarled and her eyes lit up brighter. With a sigh, Vulpix collapsed and fell asleep.

But she wasn't knocked out.

With teeth glowing pitch black, Persian leapt forward and slammed Bite right on Vulpix's shoulder.

Vulpix shrieked and surged back to her feet. She turned and fired a ball of swirling green energy point blank at Persian's face.

It was a weak attack - Ash could see the Energy Ball breaking up before it hit Persian - but it did its job, forcing the cat back and releasing her hold on her shoulder. Her fur seemed to glow brighter as a fire built up in her mouth, eyes narrowed.

"Ember! Keep it going!"

Fireballs nearly the size of Ash's head - definitely not Embers, he'd need to work on that - exploded around Persian, though the cat tried to dodge. Every way she turned there was a new explosion of fire that weakened her more and more until, with a heavy cry, the cat collapsed on her side.

Vulpix cut off her attack, but she was breathing heavily. Persian's Bite had been absolutely vicious and Ash shuddered to think about what could happen if she got her fangs in a pokemon that was weak to it.

Ash reached forward and stroked her ears, wincing as heat trickled up through his fingers. "Hey girl. Do you want to keep fighting?"

She looked up at him and then at Persian, who was quickly being recalled by Gary. After a few seconds, she shook her head.

Ash nodded. "Okay." He held up her pokemon, but she shook her head on that too. With deliberate steps, she walked over to stand next to him, ready to watch the next battles that would commence.

Gary sucked in a deep breath. "Okay, not going to lie, I didn't see that coming from such a tiny fox. You're definitely going to have to tell me the whole story of how that particular ability got to her."

Ash nodded. "'Course I will. It's a pretty long story though, so less talking and more battling!"

There was a laugh as Gary threw out his pokeball.

What came out was a tiny bird, one that took to the air immediately. A brown body, well fed, with dark red wings and a long beak. Its claws were sharp, as well as too big for its body. Its wingspan stretched far past what it should be and the red on its body was already brightening.

The spearow cawed victoriously, though it hadn't even won a battle yet. Flapping slowly, it glared down at Ash with a steely eye.

"That's a lot of character," Ash said mildly.

Gary nodded. "He's about three battles away from evolving, although I'm hoping you might actually give us enough of a challenge to make that happen earlier."

Ash grinned. "I'm sure he won't even last past the warmup round." He threw Ro onto the field.

The nidoran appeared, shaking himself. The second he caught sight of Spearow he narrowed his crimson eyes, barbs extending out of his skin. His horn weeped poison, sliding down the side.

Gary whistled. "I couldn't really see from up in the stands, but he's kingsize, right? Shit, he's a lot bigger than I thought he was."

Ash felt a proud smile spread across his lips. "Yeah, he is. My second pokemon and he actually knocked Apep out, but I managed to get him through sheer number of pokeballs. He's pretty awesome at battling."

He nodded. "I guessed. Well, I won't let you press the advantage! Spearow, Peck! Get up close and personal, but don't touch him with anything other than your beak. He'll poison you and then win."

At the last word, he gave a shriek of fury and lunged from the sky, beak shining a sky blue. Ro rumbled at him and extended his barbs further. "Ro! Horn Attack once it gets close enough!"

Spearow tucked in its wings and ducked neatly beneath Ro's lunge for Horn Attack, stabbing at his chest. Ro bellowed as it connected, swiping his horn down again to hit the bird. But Spearow merely swerved around that too, crowing mockingly.

Spearow peppered Ro with endless Pecks, hitting every part of his body. Ro couldn't dodge form the insanely fast bird and was getting more and more angry with every passing moment, his Horn Attacks more and more wild.

Gary's method worked very well until Ro finally scored a hit on Spearow. The sheer power behind it built from his bulk and fury knocked the bird cleanly out, letting him hit the ground and stop fighting. There wasn't even a struggle as Ro roared out his victory, shaking his head.

Gary tched. "Well, it worked for a while. Your nidoran sure packs a punch. But let's see how he holds up to my starter!"

He threw Squirtle out.

The turtle pokemon pounded his fists together, calling out a challenge. Ro immediately answered him, still furious from the tiny bird that had caused him so much pain. His barbs extended, weeping. Oh, he was going to trash this stupid pokemon that thought that it could beat him-

A powerful Water Gun slammed into his side and knocked him cleanly out.

Ash sighed, but recalled him quickly. He had expected it, but he had still hoped that Ro might be able to pull a victory out of somewhere. Spearow had just used Peck too many times and he was heavily injured before the battle even started while Squirtle was still fresh.

The pokemon growled his approval, spitting out another burst of water.

Gary laughed. "Atta boy, Squirtle. Let's do it one more time!"

Ash chucked Apep onto the field.

The ekans landed on the field, looked carefully around, and instantly tensed when he saw Squirtle. His tail straightened before rattling furiously, hisses exploding from his mouth. Anger coated his stiff body.

Gary chuckled. "Well, Ashy boy, I'd say that your little starter remembers his loss from last time. Are you sure you want it to happen again?"

Ash looked down at Apep and smirked. "Oh, I don't think it's going to be a loss this time, Gary."

The boy shrugged, still grinning. "Well. It's your funeral. Or your snake's funeral. Have at it! Squirtle, Water Gun!"

Apep well remembered the battle from last time, though it had been a month ago. He ducked under the stream of water and shot forward, eyes narrowed.

Ash grinned. "Apep, Iron Jump and then Iron Tail! Nail him into the ground!"

Gary's eyes narrowed as Apep slammed his metallic tail into the ground, quickly shooting him up. A grin snapped onto his face. "Same trick won't work on me, Ash! Squirtle! Withdraw!"

Squirtle popped into his shell just as Apep's Iron Tail slammed down onto the neck of his shell. Ash cursed as Squirtle popped back out mostly unharmed, a smirk on his little blue face. He beat his fists together and blew out a stream of bubbles, each of them exploding against Apep.

The snake quickly retreated, hissing furiously. His tail flicked over the ground, the threatening rattle echoing over the training field.

"Come on, Apep. Keep your head in the battle. We can still win this. Use Poison Sting!" Ash called, fists clenched.

Needle-shaped sticks of solid venom shot through the air, peppering over Squirtle's face. The turtle squawked and hit them away with Water Gun, but a few stuck on his skin. They fell off a few seconds later but at least one had managed to inject venom as the pokemon winced with his fists clenched.

Gary frowned. Poison was always a least favourite of pokemon trainers because of how debilitating it could be.

"Water Gun, keep it-" He trailed off, eyes wide.

Squirtle hissed and pulled off a Poison Sting from where it was balanced on his shell. With a dark sense of satisfaction and victory in his eyes, he slammed his foot into the ground and started to glow.

Ash gaped as the glowing silhouette of Squirtle changed, limbs lengthening. His stubby tail unfurled, stretching out and lightening in color until it was a pale blue that reached nearly all the way up his back. His ears shifted to a brilliant blue and stretched, the edges curling above his head. He grew taller until he was double what he had been before, nearly three feet tall. The final step were the two tiny fangs that appeared in his mouth.

Once the light faded, Ash couldn't say anything. Squirtle had evolved.

Gary exploded into laughter. "Fuck yeah, Wartortle! I knew you were ready! Cream the little snake!"

Apep looked suitably more concerned, and for good reason. Wartortle reared back and blasted a Water Gun with at least another half of the water dumped in it. It rocketed forward and slammed into Apep's chest.

The snake emerged again, though he was breathing heavily and bruise already bloomed on his scales. There was even a hint of blood where one of his scales had been skewed by the blast, and it looked liked it hurt.

Apep looked pissed off.

"Wrap then Poison Fang! You have to get close, bud!" Ash called out, though anxiety colored his voice. Apep had been having enough trouble before Wartortle evolved, but now? He was scared.

The snake hissed and shot forward, dodging the Water Gun blasts as best he could. Gary just settled back and let his pokemon run the show, a grin flicking onto his face while he crossed his arms.

Another hit scored against his tail and Apep bellowed deep in his chest. With a furious rattle he flew through the air and slammed onto Wartortle's face, wrapping coil after coil over the pokemon's body.

Wartortle opened his mouth, readjusted his grip a little bit, and, with his fangs glowing, used Bite.

Apep shrieked and nearly fell off, but instead whipped around and suck purple fangs right into Wartortle's ear.

The pokemon squawked but used Bite again, his beak glowing an even darker black with his anger and pain.

Apep slipped off of him, knocked unconscious yet again.

Ash sighed, pulling out his pokeball. Apep disappeared in a burst of scarlet, collapsing in on itself until the pokemon was safely tucked inside of his pokeball. Boy, he was not going to enjoy tomorrow.

Gary, meanwhile, was high fiving Wartortle and checking out his new form. The pokemon tapped along his chest, checking the strength of his shell. He fired an experimental Bubble in the air and watched it shoot upward until it was almost out of sight, raining tiny flecks of water back down on him. His ears twitched, picking up much more sounds than before, though he winced and touched the trickle of blood caused by Apep using Poison Fang on him. He flexed his tail, purple eyes wide.

"Buddy, you are a sight to see," Gary said victoriously, patting his head. Wartortle grinned at him, happiness in both their eyes.

But then the trainer turned back to Ash, smiling. "Well then. I guess I win again. What does that make it? Two to me and zero to you? I'm sorry, it's just getting so hard to keep track of it-"

Ash laughed and shoved him. It was hard not to get caught in Gary's infectious happiness. "Yeah, yeah. If Wartortle hadn't evolved, Apep would have kicked him all the way to Unova."

Gary faked a shudder. "Oh no! The horror! At least it won't ever happen." They both laughed before Gary turned back to Wartortle.

"Gotta recall you. We want to make sure nothing went wrong in the evolution, right?" The pokemon nodded as he disappeared.

Gary turned back to Ash. "Okay, before I hear the story on your vulpix, I need to give you a word of advice because I know that if I don't tell you, you'll be stupid enough to ignore what everyone is telling you." Gary poked his shoulder. "Don't go to Lavender Town. I haven't been there, but every single person that's coming from there says that something's upsetting the ghost types of the area."

"There haven't been any attacks on trainers yet but pokemon everywhere have been seriously injured by some pretty wild ghost types there, and actually from everywhere. There's some sort of aura around there that's calling in ghost types to the area, but with so many there the spiritual energy is too high and they're all going a bit mad. So head to Vermillion City and challenge Surge, but stay away from Lavender for at least a little bit. As much as it would be funny to see, you better not get hurt before I have the chance to cream you and your pokemon again."

Ash nodded his head. "Does anyone have any ideas about what's causing it? Does the League know?"

"Yeah, they're actually the ones who sent out the first alert. They've sent over a bunch of Ace trainers but I've heard rumors that they might have to send in Agatha because things are so strange there. So seriously, stay away."

Ash laughed. "I heard you the first time."

Gary raised an eyebrow. "But will you listen? I mean, it's not like you've ignored important information before when Professor Oak told us that his rhyhorn were a little annoyed that day-"

Ash slapped a hand over Gary's mouth. "We don't speak of that!" He hissed, though a grin was on his face.

Gary smirked. "Oh, we don't now? What about the time-"

"If you keep talking, you don't hear what happened to Vulpix," Ash threatened, though his heart wasn't in it.

Gary raised his hands in surrender. "Alright, alright. Tell me."

"Okay. So here I am, in the Pokecenter…"

* * *

 **Okay guys! A bit of a shorter chapter today, but boy did a lot of things happen! I really hope you enjoyed this fun little chapter.**

 **So, I know, we had a bunch of training. But I tried to keep it short and funny, because I needed the moment when we figured out that Ro could hold his breath and poison the water. That was a pretty high reason on the list of how they defeated Seaking after all, and hey, I liked it. Sorry if you didn't.**

 **But yay! Gary's back!**

 **I love this version of Gary much better than the canon and most fanon versions. They just seem to make him an asshole with not a lot of reasons why and I feel that Ash and him would have been good friends, through their opinion did collide sometimes. But I feel like this fits them better then just 'oh my god I will fight you I hope you die' because I mean seriously? They're ten.**

 **Also, Gary swears. 100%. Fight me.**

 **But yeah! Cascade Badge! Misty is going to try and find Proton because of Jenny putting Ash's sob story all over the web for people to get inspired. I like Misty, don't get me wrong, but in this world where gym leaders don't just drop their jobs and travel with Ash, I feel like this kind of bored and annoyed Misty fits her in this situation. When we meet her later she'll be back to her more normal self, but she had been fighting for about three straight hours at that point, and it's going to weigh down on anyone. But yeah. Don't get me wrong! This is not Misty bashing.**

 **Anyway! Did you guys like the battle? I feel that yes, Ash lost again, but he's really going to start coming into his power about next chapter and moving on. And then he has to work on pride and not getting too cocky and then he has to be able to keep training his pokemon and capturing new ones and ohhh! It's going to be so much fun. I really like how this story is picking up and moving off to new directions I hadn't even thought of until I started writing.**

 **Anyway! Onto to review answers!**

 **ABZB13**

 **WOW**

 **just wow.**

 **Hrm.**

 **I wonder what happens when a Vulpix missing tails evolves into Ninetails?**

 **Because six becoming nine implies that either exactly three split into two, or one splits into two and one splits into three, or the six are reabsorbed and become nine.**

 **In the former case, if and when this Vulpix evolves, she will have anywhere from three to six tails, depending on if it is specific tails that are predestined to split, and if those are among the ones she lost. In this case, no matter what, she will retain these changes as a Ninetales - this combination of Flash Fire and Flame Body that acts like those and also kind of a mix between an inverted Dry Skin and an always-on Solar Power.**

 **In the latter case, she will not retain the source - but it is possible that the physiological changes that she has undergone - the adaptations of her fire-pores and fire source - will nevertheless continue into her adult form - while mitigating the disability (as she will presumably at least be able to close her pores and reduce the intensity of her fire source, reducing her Water weakness to normal).**

 **On the other hand, if she accidentally unlocks her Hidden Ability in her current state, or in the former Ninetails case, that could very well kill her…**

Wow yourself! This is an awesome review. Thank you so much for writing it all out.

To be honest, I'm still playing around with what will happen when Vulpix evolves. At least it won't be for a while, right? But yeah. You've given me a lot of absolutely brilliant ideas and I can't thank you enough! This is really awesome and I love all the ideas of math and then biology and then pokemon ideas.

And oooh. What if she does revert back to normal? That could completely throw a wrench in Ash's plans...

 **THE TRAINER OF LEGEND**

 **Wow just wow. These last two chapters have been amazing. If the first four caught my attention, the last two got me hooked. The first gym battle was really well done and I like how you characterized Brock. Most people skip over him to characterize the more dynamic gym leaders like Surge and Sabrina, but your characterization was much appreciated. The way u handled the Mt Moon Team Rocket encounter was completely unique and refreshing. This really separates you from other stories on this site. Vulpix is amazing and so cute! I really like her story and can't wait to see her grow and develop. Finally the growth of Ash as a person in these last two chapters was really well written and exciting to see. Keep up the good work!**

Hey, if the first four caught your attention, and next two really hooked you, and this one reels you in, does that mean I've caught you hook, line, and sinker? xD

Thanks for noticing Brock! The poor guy deserves some more love on fanfiction, even if it is just a couple more pages on what he does as his job. Surge is a favourite of mine but I really like Brock a lot. Mount Moon was a lot of fun to write, and I'm really happy you like it! It took me way too long amount of time to come up with something new for it.

I'm glad you like Vulpix. Don't worry, you'll get to see a lot more of her in future chapters…

Thank you so much for this review! It made me feel so happy.

 **NEOTAC**

 **Can't wait for more!**

Here you go! I hope you like it!

 **THE FAUX WRITER**

 **You've got a really good story going here, reminds me of challenger. I would love to see a type: null come in. The fact that it was created from a bunch of different Pokemon leaves plenty of room for interesting mental problems (kinda like the indominus from Jurassic world being psychotic). Absol would be cool too, its established people don't like them due to the whole disaster thing.**

Aw, thank you! Not going to lie, I adore Challenger and some parts of it are definitely bleeding through.

Type: Null is something I haven't every thought of, but you're right. They could be seriously messed up in the head in a way that only the very best trainer could handle. Something like extreme paranoia and predator/prey dysphoria would be cool. (Well, cool to write. Not for the pokemon)

Oh, don't worry. You'll see Absol eventually ;)

 **So guys! I hope you like the story! Don't forget I am still accepting tournament trainers, though a little bit later on I'll post an actual guideline for it.**

 **Also, do you guys want a list on my profile about the pokemon and their moves? Would that be nice?**

 **Anyway! Please read and review!**

 **Frost OUT!**


	5. Cerulean City

Gary blinked as Ash finished his story, staring down at Vulpix, who just cocked her head at him and breathed out a tongue of flame. She had darted away from the battlefield the second Squirtle had started shooting Water Guns, hissing angrily and breathing a burst of fire over her fur. The water droplets in the air turned to steam before even coming close to her, filling the air with a light mist.

"That's messed up," he finally said, kneeling down to stare Vulpix in her grey-black eyes, head tilted. She snorted at him, the heat from her breath forcing him to take a step back, eyes wide.

Ash nodded. "Yeah, but we're getting better. Bill gave me a lot of ideas to train her and she's getting pretty good at controlling her inner flame, though her Flamethrowers are definitely something to fear."

Gary scoffed. "I think I got that." He patted the pokeball on his waist that belonged to Persian. "Well, let's take our pokemon to the Pokecenter. I don't know about you, but its nearly one and I haven't had any sort of food yet except for the literal tiniest breakfast any human can eat."

Ash laughed and held up Vulpix's pokeball, letting her see it. With a flash, she was recalled into the red and white sphere, though there was a small frown on her face as she disappeared.

She liked to see the sights of the cities, and though Gary had attacked her with Persian he had seemed nice. And more importantly, he had called her strong, which was always appreciated.

But she knew why she had to be recalled. Her shoulder throbbed from the two Bites and her back was in a moderate bit of pain from the Scratch, and it would be nice for that to all go away.

Ash clipped her back to his waist and then turned back to the building, its glass dome shining brilliantly in the overhead sun. It was too late in the day to think about starting to travel to the next town, so he'd probably spend the rest of the day with Gary and maybe train his pokemon a bit at the end. Though they had just a won a gym battle. He'd make sure to take it nice and easy.

Gary and him walked through the front doors, handing over six pokeballs to Nurse Joy. SHe thanked them, popping them into a chute that would send them into the day time healer, though they probably wouldn't be back for another couple of hours.

"Oh! And Nurse Joy, Wartortle just evolved. Do you think you could check on him, make sure nothing went wrong?" Gary asked, placing his hands on her counter. She paused from where she was about to send WArtortle away, her lips pursing.

"Did he evolve in a battle or training?" She asked, dropping Persian into the machine and keeping Wartle tight in her hand.

"Battle. Ash and I fought, and he evolved a bit after taking out Ash's nidoran and then went on to knock out his ekans. I don't think he had anything wrong in his mind - he jumped right back into the battle and seemed to know when it was about to happen. His moves were a lot more powerful after." Gary listed off everything he could remember, ticking off fingers as he talked.

Nurse Joy frowned. "Did he happen to be poisoned before he evolved? And if so, do you know where the poison was injected?"

Gary nodded. "Yeah, ekans nailed him with a Poison Sting on the side of the neck, I think? There was a cloud of them but he managed to dodge most of them."

She nodded. "I'm going to have to keep him overnight just to make sure the poison didn't force him not to evolve a certain part of his body. The chances are extremely low for anything happening, but I think you'd rather not risk it, right? He'll be back up in tip-top shape tomorrow morning."

Gary grinned. "Alright then. Nurse Joy, do you know of anything we could do for the day in Cerulean? Anything special going on here?"

She pursed her lips, eyes flicking off into nothingness. "Hmm.. well, there is always a pokemon showcase somewhere in this town. That's where someone shows off a powerful or rare pokemon to people who are still too young to get their starter or really, to anyone who wants to come and watch. I will warn you - if you feel like you know a decent amount of knowledge, go there and just see the pokemon, but then leave. I've heard they drone for hours about the littlest things, like why this one specific move is strong against their pokemon when the only reason is because of typing. But sometimes the pokemon are very cool - someone once brought in a larvitar, which evolves into a tyranitar. That was an interesting day. The trainer practically had to beat back people who wanted to trade with him with a broom. The kids loved it, though."

"Sweet!" Ash said, punching Gary on the shoulder. "You'll definitely have to stay through the whole performance. I bet you don't even know what a typing is. What's weak to water types, Gary?"

The boy frowned in mock confusion. "Gosh, I don't know! It must be grass types, right? Right?"

They laughed. Nurse Joy smiled but shooed them away from in front of her desk. They both trotted toward the back of the Pokecenter, where the free lunch was just being set up. Flashing their pokedexes as a sign of their Trainer ID, they each grabbed a tray and settled down at a random table.

It was berries with potatoes, which sounded like a strange concoction but it actually tasted pretty good. Berries were the lifeforce for herbivorous pokemon and humans enjoyed them just as much, though they didn't get the extra little abilities from the berries that pokemon did. Oran berries were dead useful while out training.

Gary flicked an extra bit of berry at Ash while he finished up his plate, stacking his silverware onto the tray neatly. Ash copied him, dodging the berry and launching another back in return. It nearly exploded into a full out food battle before they looked over and saw the attendants giving them a hearty stink eye, and quickly stopped.

With a few questions to Nurse Joy, they started to head to the west side of the lake, right on the edge of where the city connected with the water. Most people started their showcase there and as it was Saturday, there would most likely be at least one more today before they stopped.

They fumbled around at first, a bit unsure of where to go, but a family group with three excited kids served as their guide as they ducked and swerved through the crowd to end up on the beach. Warm sand beneath their feet, they headed toward a stone platform that already had a bunch of people sitting down on it. They hung near the back, ready to leave pretty quickly after they saw the pokemon.

The trainer was a girl with a pixie haircut and piercing grey eyes. Her arms were tan and surprisingly strong, and her grip was covered in heavy calluses. There was a steel in her motions that most people just didn't have, a strength that spoke novels. A strength that she most definitely knew how to use.

Once enough people had gathered, she plucked a pokeball from her waist and threw it at the ground, catching its return easily.

A primeape appeared, eyes narrowed and piggish nose twitching. Its white fur was well groomed and it swayed from feet to feet, balance switching from side to side though it never stumbled or fell. Primeape were known for their incredible skills with battling and their fighting type moves, combined with their inherent anger, could bring down strong pokemon even when they weren't trained.

The trainer stood up, flicking a piece of sand off of the primeape's head. "This here is Primeape, one of my best fighters. Their base form, mankey, can be found pretty commonly, but it takes a lot of skill to get them to evolve into this form. Does anyone have any idea what type he is?"

A few kids raised their hands. She smiled and picked out, a cute boy with ruffled blond hair and an overbite. "He's a fighting type!"

"Correct! So that means he's got really, really strong muscles. The reason for that is because of something curious - fighting types have rather thin bones. They aren't weak to the point of flying types, but they are rather small, and that is because their muscles, upon evolution or birth, actually grow so large they compete with the bones for space. That's right - even his body will fight itself!"

The kids laughed. Somewhere in her talk, Ash and Gary both sat down on the platform and listened to her talk about her primeape. She had obviously trained it well. Despite being forced to stand there and flex arms and legs and jump high in the air, it seemed content to just be showed off.

Of course, the best part was when at the very end, she asked everyone to move back pretty far to give her some room before she started to trade punches with the pokemon. People could see that Primeape didn't use any moves as that could seriously injure the trainer, but with regular punches she was actually able to keep it on its toes, forcing it to block and dodge some of her powerful left swings. The fight was thoroughly entertaining and once she called it to an end, she got an overwhelming applause from the audience. Primeape did a low bow before being recalled.

She stood in front of them all, clapping her hands to regain attention and quiet. After people saw her, they hushed themselves and tiny children and stared at her. She didn't even seem the tiniest bit uncomfortable.

"I'm only going to be here for a couple more days. I'm going to try to do another showcase of a different type on Monday, though I'm not quite sure which one yet. It'll be at the same time and the same place, so if you'd like to see another one of my pokemon, be sure to come!"

As they clapped again and stood to leave, Ash saw parents of children who were currently chattering loudly to their friends come up to the trainer, dropping fives and tens into her hands. It was a way to make a living, he guessed.

Gary shoved his shoulder. "That almost makes me want to go and catch a fighting type, right? That talk was just insane. I guess we both really don't know as much as we thought we did."

Ash nodded. "I had no idea they could be that _powerful_! Or the trainer, too. Did you see her when she landed that hit on its nose? That probably could have snapped my arm right in half!"

They stood there for a moment, glancing back to the trainer who was chatting idly with one parent while their kid raced in circles around their feet. She seemed very at home with where she was.

"Man, I do not want to fight her. My pokemon would just be smushed."

Gary laughed, and then they started to walk off. Neither of them really knew what they wanted to do now, so they wandered around the town, hugging the edges. While shopping in stores was fun, there was always a chance of watching trainer deck it out on the several battlefields surrounding Cerulean. They made a loop around the west side of town before they came to a strange little path. It was paved but it twisted into a thicket of trees, not very well trimmed and seemingly not very visited. A sign stood out front, though it was slightly faded by weather.

Cerulean Cave.

Eyes narrowed, they both stepped onto the path and started to walk. It wasn't very long, and in maybe seven minutes they emerged from the trees and popped out near a gaping hole carved in stone.

It was a tunnel. There wasn't a mountain over it, but the curve of the tunnel shot it underground, probably curving right underneath the ground. It was made of a grey stone, much like the kind at Mount Moon. Ash's hand drifted by his flashlight, which he kept clipped to his belt.

Gary frowned. "A tunnel? I haven't heard of Cerulean Cave before. It definitely sounds like somewhere I'm going though, as soon as Wartortle gets healed up. I bet there's some badass pokemon down there."

There was a grunt and then, out of the darkness, came a trainer.

Well. An Ace trainer. There was the league symbol on his chest, embroidered into his thin vest loaded with more pockets than fabric. He had six pokeballs on his waist, two of them great balls. A gleam of sweat stood out on his face and he squinted in annoyance at the bright sunlight. Brown hair curled around his ears and blue eyes were narrowed as he blocked them with his hand.

"Sorry, folks. Cerulean Cave is off-limits to those without five badges or more. The pokemon in here could and would whoop your pokemon's butts, maybe even your full team if you went deep enough," he said, slipping a League hat nearly perfectly matched Ash's on his head. The shadow cast over his face covered his eyes and he seemed profoundly grateful for it.

"What? What kind of a rule is that?" Gary frowned, disappoint wrought onto his face. "Any trainer is allowed everywhere."

The Ace trainer raised an eyebrow. "Really? Route 0? Ever heard of it or the countless other routes that trainers below five badges can't access? Seriously kids, the League has a few protections against getting you or your pokemon killed."

Ash spoke up before Gary can run off on the trainer. "How did you know that we didn't already have five badges? We don't exactly have our badge cases strapped to our waists, I mean."

The trainer shook his head. "I know. But every trainer, once they get five badges, gets a list of every place that they can now travel to. You didn't have any idea of what Cerulean Cave was, so I made a guess and was correct."

Ash slapped a hand down on Gary's shoulder. The boy snorted but did look away, letting a bit of the anger in his eyes drain away. Ash turned back to the trainer, head tilted to the side. "What kind of pokemon are in there? I mean, is it stocked like the Safari Zone or do they just congregate there?"

"They just hide away here. Because they're so powerful, we don't let beginner trainers in, so they just have more and more time that they'd normally spend on not getting captured to become stronger. Eventually they peak though, as wild pokemon can't really learn moves not of their elemental type without outside assistance, so it never gets too dangerous unless you go on the really low levels."

The trainer tapped his chin. "It's a bit like a building in there. We've got the top level, which has the newest pokemon and the weakest ones. The farther you go down the stronger the pokemon get, and we've only really had about a dozen trainers make it to the bottom level, which is where we have most of our monsters. I've heard of a kid who came out with a machamp that damn nearly killed his team before he caught it, though he eventually got it to listen. He was the focus for a very long time on how his pokemon was able to evolve without being traded and he was the one who discovered that when they reach a certain point, pokemon that normally only evolve through trading can force themselves to evolve, though it's definitely a tricky business."

He shook his head. "But those are the monsters. On the upper levels, we've mainly got a lot of evolved pokemon, that's what makes it so dangerous. Primeape, persian, magneton, even a couple crobat flying around. Unless you've got a type advantage that makes your pokemon near invincible, your best bet is to bring several pokemon to take down one you want to catch. They're powerful in these caves."

"One of the coolest things, though, is that there are a lot of underground lakes down there. They start pretty deep into the mountain but golduck, poliwhirl, slowbro, even a couple of gyarados. Those gyarados are a bit smaller than those found in the ocean but they make up for it in power - those pokemon are real beasts. I saw a trainer who managed to catch one - five of his pokemon knocked out, two of them in one hit. They can take a lot of hits and dish out Hyper Beams like candy."

Gary and Ash were listening in awe, already rewriting their plans to come here immediately after getting their fifth badge. The Ace trainer kept talking, ticking things off on his fingers.

"We've got about four absol in there, too. You will not believe how many trainers we've had come in here to try to catch them only to come out empty handed. We've got a lot of sightings but no one has ever managed to actually catch one. The only reason we know they're still there is because of their horns. You know how horns on pokemon will grow, albeit slowly, forever? They sharpen it on the rock walls to keep it short enough to use as well as sharp. We find slivers of their horns and have been able to figure out that we've got two breeding pairs in here, and they might even be making eggs. But still - no one has been able to catch any of them yet."

The Ace trainer chuckled. "Actually, if you go in there, you'll probably make some money instead of losing any. When people try to catch pokemon, they throw their pokeballs and then try to catch them, right? But the pokemon down here are so strong that they break out almost every time. And the trainer can't grab the pokeball again because they've got a very angry pokemon on their hands, and so they have to battle it and they often get distracted or chased away. So there are hundreds of pokeballs, some of them great balls and above, just laying in the tunnels below with no one to collect them."

He blinked, as if remembering where he was. "Yeah. Lots of pokemon in here, don't you dare try to come inside before you've won five badges. The League will send you your paper on where you can go."

Ash was more than a bit disappointed when the Ace trainer shooed them away from the tunnel, disappearing back inside the darkness of the opening. Gary looked just as annoyed, though there was a gleam in both of their eyes.

"Just you wait, Ashy boy. I'm going to get one of those absol and be the first to actually catch one."

Ash grinned at him. "Oh really? I'll get one of the gyarados and blast that little absol with a Hyper Beam. I think only one hit to knock out your team, right?"

They laughed and walked back to Cerulean City. By the time they reached the open streets, the sun was beginning its freefall towards the horizon. Only an hour left of daylight, and with that, they both headed toward the Pokecenter. People walked around them, happily chatting over heads of people as they walked to where ever they needed to be. Pokemon trotted at their owner's heels. A mightyena snapped at a growlithe, who just yipped happily and ran back to its owner. A pidgeot shrieked a warning as a fearow nearly clipped its wings, eyes narrowed.

They arrived at the glass dome, pushing open the doors and turning immediately to head toward Nurse Joy. She reached under the table as she saw them approach, pulling out a handful of pokeballs.

Ash got Ro, Apep, and Vulpix back, all with a clean bill of health. Gary got Persian and Spearow with a smile, and Nurse Joy said that nothing seemed wrong but she still had a couple more tests she wanted to run to be absolutely sure that nothing had gone wrong. Gary thanked her.

Immediately, they ran back toward the battlefield.

Annoyingly, there were two other trainers already on it, commanding a shellder and a doduo. Gary glared at them for a second before pulling Ash a little way into the woods surrounding the town, moving until the trees cleared a bit into forming a clearing that could reasonably hold all of their pokemon.

Ash threw first, mainly because Gary knew all of his pokemon. Ro blinked crimson eyes as he looked around, lumbering over to stand close to Ash. He yawned, showing off sharp white teeth. Vulpix breathed out a long tongue of fire, tails waving, before walking close to Ash's other side. He scratched between her ears, smoothing the fur back over. With his other hand, he rubbed the joints of Ro's enormous ears and listened as the nidoran rumbled happily, closing his eyes.

Apep hissed as Gary, curling up at Ash's feet. His purple scales pressed against his boots, the golden ring around his neck catching a few beams of falling light to shine in the clearing. His rattle danced over the ground.

Gary smirked. "Need to cool a few tempers on your side, eh? That ekans has enough for all your pokemon."

Ash laughed and stroked his head scales. "Apep certainly holds a grudge. Ro knocked him out when I was trying to catch him and I don't think he'll ever recover. Thankfully, Ro seems to be okay with it."

Gary nodded, head tilted. "Did you seriously name your pokemon after an evil snake god? Really? Also, what kind of a name is Ro?"

"Short for Royal. You know, kingsize and nidoking? I thought it was good." Ro rumbled as he scratched his back.

Gary shrugged. "Whatever suits you. You know what Wartortle looks like - here's the rest of my pokemon." He readied his pokeballs, tossing them out one by one. With a burst of light, the first pokemon appeared.

Persian yawned and stretched, tail curling above her head and pearly whites flashing in the light. She stared around, her gem flashing once as her eyes burned a light blue. Within a second though, she stopped and promptly walked back toward Gary, padding lightly over the ground.

"She's just checking the area. Persian has some pretty powerful psychic abilities from her egg move and she can detect living creatures with her gem by using Hypnosis. It's actually pretty cool and has saved my ass a few times," Gary explained.

Spearow appeared next, cawing lightly before he flapped up onto a branch stretching over the clearing. He ruffled red feathers, staring down at them with a gleaming eye. There was a challenging stance in his posture and Apep hissed at him despite never having met the bird before.

Weepinbell looked decidedly unamused with everything, blinking large eyes slowly and twitching its emerald leaves. Using two of its vines, it wrapped them around a trunk and dragged itself over to set peacefully at the bottom, closing its eyes as if to sleep until Gary called for it again.

A zubat, wings purple and body black, appeared. It - she, Gary corrected - narrowed small eyes at Ro but didn't make another movement, settled quite contentedly on the ground with her thin wings tucked close to her body. Her two fangs gleamed in her mouth as she screeched softly, the sound bouncing around the clearing.

The last pokemon was one that hadn't been found in Kanto until they had opened their borders with Johto, and it was even a new type that hadn't been previously discovered in Kanto. The poochyena shook its grey tail and wrinkled its nose, shaking its ears. The second it saw Ash and his pokemon, it stiffened and started to growl, the deep sound ripping its way from its throat.

Gary shook his head and placed a hand on the dark types back, Poochyena calming slightly beneath his touch. "He's a little high strung," Gary apologized. "He was my latest catch and doesn't quite seem to like others humans yet. But you should see him in battle - he's my fastest pokemon, even beating Persian, though she most definitely hates that fact." He scratched the pokemon behind her ears as she hissed. Poochyena barked at her, ears pinned back.

Ash blinked. His team had some strong beginnings set out in front of him. Though there was the simple fact that a few of his pokemon would only be able to get stronger through TMs at one point, he knew for a fact that the Oak named not only greased a lot of wheels but it carried enough weight and money to buy any TM Gary needed as long as he could still make enough food to feed himself and his pokemon. Hell, he wouldn't be surprised if Gary already had several TMs.

"They're pretty impressive. What are your plans for Surge? A lot of your pokemon are weak to electric types." Ash carefully ignored the fact he had no advantages either, brushing his hand against the violet scales of Apep.

Gary shook his head. "I'm heading to Celadon City first, then I'll tackle Surge. I feel good enough about battling her and I know I can either get my pokemon up to the right level or capture a couple more immune pokemon to be able to battle him successfully. Plus, that means I can buy a few more TMs. Celadon has the best - and their Game Corner is filled with rare items and even pokemon. Did you hear about the one dude who managed to get enough coins to get a dratini they were offering? A dratini! That's one of the rarest pokemon in Kanto and the world!"

Ash couldn't help but grin. He knew he'd tackle Surge first - it was better to battle the man with only two badges under your belt so he couldn't start using the monsters of his higher teams against you - but Celadon City suddenly seemed a fair bit more promising than before. He'd definitely hit the city after Surge, then he'd move on and head to Fuschia City and the Safari Zone. Two chances to get a dratini. "Hoping that'll be you, Gar-bear? In your dreams, maybe."

Gary scoffed. "Oh come on. I'd win a dragon type before you even got to see one!"

Ash raised a hand. "Please. The Safari Zone is going to lead me to a dratini on a red carpet."

"And I'm actually a pokemon. Seriously though - I've already called ahead and reserved a three day adventure at the Safari Zone. How close are you to going there again?"

He had to concede defeat. "Yeah yeah. But I was the one to actually find Lance's first recorded battle, which is worth much more than the thirty feet that you could convince Professor Oak to let you near his dragonite, though. At least I'm winning at something."

"Though not for long," Gary grinned. "What are your plans? Are you heading to Erika or Surge?"

Ash stared at his best friend's pokemon, then down at his own. Three compared to six, and none of them with any advantage. His mind flicked back to the map downloaded on his pokedex. "Actually, I'm heading down Route 9. I think I want to pick up another pokemon, especially one that can resist electric types."

He could nearly hear Gary blow a fuse.

"Did I not - _not even five hours ago, you twat_ \- tell you that Lavender Town and the surrounding areas were strictly off limits and that no one could go on it because the League has been considering sending Agatha - you know, the _Elite Four ghost master_ \- because it is so dangerous? Do you not remember that conversation because I will shove it up your _ass_ if you say you don't, so help me Ash Ketchum!"

Ash held up his hands in surrender. "Chill, man! I just said Route 9 down to Rock Tunnel, which is barely three-four days away from Celadon. Then, if I manage to find a pokemon or none there strike my fancy, I'm turning right back around and heading down to Saffron and then Vermillion. I won't go anywhere near Lavender Town and I'll watch for when its safe on the news just like everyone else!"

Gary calmed slightly, though there was still a heavy frown on his face and a tightness to his shoulders. "Then I'm going with you. I know rock types are weak to grass types but surely there's some other pokemon on Rock Tunnel that I can catch. But you aren't just jumping into this with no plan in your mind, Ash. I don't care how safe you claim to be - you've literately been attacked by Team Rocket twice already on your one month journey. Hell, I'm surprised a bolt of lightning hasn't hit you already."

Ash chuckled. "Yeah, I know. Although the first attack doesn't really count. They were the weakest grunts I've ever heard of, let alone battled. I only had Apep at that point, and I still won! Easy-peasy."

Gary glared at him and he promptly shut up.

"Just eight days and then we'll be back at Cerulean, then we'll both go to Saffron before splitting our different ways. Everything will work out perfectly," he soothed as best he could. Gary looked far from happy but he nodded.

Holding up pokeballs, the boy recalled all of his pokemon except for Persian, who padded a step closer and wrapped her tail around the back of his leg. He stroked her ears, avoiding her gem.

"I'm going to go and pick up another TM, do you want to come? I'd been saving buying this one so I could get it once Wartortle evolved. It would just kind of sit in my bag, you know? Though I'm still getting a reusable copy. If I'm lucky, I'll get to use all of mine several times. There are a few advantages to getting a bunch of pokemon, though I will admit I have my favourites."

Persian purred as he patted her head.

Ash chuckled. "I know what you mean. I swear, Apep sucks more energy out of me than any of my other pokemon combined. Probably more than all of my future pokemon combined! Lazy snake."

The ekans in question pushed against Ash's knee with his nose, hissing annoyedly. Ash laughed and stroked his head.

"Yeah, I'll come with you. I'm planning on buying my first one here. Hey, if I get a TM you can use, is there any chance we could trade on and off a bit? You'll probably have at least one move a pokemon of mine can use."

Gary grinned. "I bet on it. The first TM I got was Protect, which almost every pokemon can learn. Cost me a pretty penny to get it reusable but I've taught it to most of my pokemon. I've tried to train them on more natural moves first though, that's why Persian didn't use it. She just hasn't quite perfected it yet."

Ash nodded, holding out his pokeballs to recall his pokemon. Apep hissed annoyedly at him though Ro went without a fight. Vulpix cast pleading eyes up at him but he knelt down. "Sorry girl, but I'm going to go to sleep after we buy a TM with Gary. I'll get you out when I'm in my room, okay?"

She nodded, though frustrated, as she disappeared in a burst of red light. Ash clipped them back to his belt, nodding at Gary. "Let's go. I haven't really thought about which one to buy so I'd like as much time as I can get."

Gary nodded back and they both headed back toward the Pokecenter, eyeing the battlefield. The two trainers were gone and a patch of ice was spread over the middle of the field, steaming gently.

He stood in front of the rack, staring at the circular disks. They were neatly spread out, a small card displaying the name of the move, the type, and the cost of the TM, both one-time and reusable.

His pokedex was out, comparing the possible movesets for all three of his pokemon. Gary had already headed toward Nurse Joy, a reusable Ice Beam tight in his hands as well as a curled wad of cash.

Ash had no idea whether his League-sanctioned gift card would expire, but he didn't want to risk it. He'd be buying his TM today with it, though that was if he could every figure out which one he wanted.

It was a toss up between two - Toxic and Payback. Toxic was a devastating poison type move that could inflict such a strong venom that it could knock out a strong pokemon in a matter of two minutes, and that was without the use of any moves, which would increase heart rate and therefore the spread of the poison. When used correctly, it could and would devastate opponents. Apep and Ro could learn that move and such a powerful poison would help Apep also learn Acid.

But Payback was a dark type move, which were already vicious attacks just by the typing alone. It was a move capable of knocking out a dragonite as long as your pokemon had been hit before - it took the pain of being hit and transferred the sheer anger and pain in a mass of dark type energy, dealing the same amount of damage to the opponent. As long as the pokemon managed to hit their opponent, the energy would be transferred and just when the other trainer thought they had won by landing such a hit, their pokemon could be knocked out by the energy of their own move. It was devastating, and both Apep and Vulpix could learn it.

It took him a pretty fair amount of time to come up with an idea, but in the end, his decision was made for him once he did a little bit of research. Two pokemon of Gary's could learn Payback, which meant that was two of Gary's TMs he would get to use. He grabbed a reusable disk and walked toward Nurse Joy.

He handed over his giftcard to the smiling pink-haired woman, who perked up as she saw it. "Ah! A bounty card! Who did you capture, Ash? It must have been quite the battle to win a reward like this," she teased lightly, scanning a code on the back with a softly beeping machine.

Handing over the disk, he blushed. "It really wasn't much. Back in Viridian, there was a pair of Team Rocket grunts who tried to take pokemon from the Pokecenter. I managed to help defeat one of them and Officer Jenny gave me this."

She handed the disk back to him, as well as a complementary TM case from his first purchase. "Don't put yourself down like that. Ash, you have five hundred dollars left on your gift card, here you go. Make sure not to lose it. Are you staying in your room for another day, you two?"

They both nodded at her and went over to the couch in the middle of the room, spreading out their TMs on the coffee table in between the two seats. Gary had three, like he had promised. Ice Beam, Protect, and Rain Dance, all reusable. Ash set Payback on the table closest to him.

Gary's eyes lit up."Oh! Both Poochyena and Persian can learn that. I assume you want to do some sort of trade?"

Ash nodded, pointing to Protect. "I want this for Vulpix, as a last defense if a pokemon knows any surprise water type moves." He frowned for a second, eyes flicking over the TMs on the table. It took him a moment, but he finally decided. "And then I want Ice Beam for Ro. he needs a new element to learn."

Gary nodded, preparing to grab the Payback TM and slip it into his TM case when Ash frowned again and raised his hand up. "Actually, is there any way I can use your Protect one more time?"

The boy narrowed his eyes but gestured with his hand. "Go on. Is there something you're offering me?"

"I can give you five hundred dollars and two potions. Will that be enough? I'd really like for Apep to learn the move as well."

Gary hmm-ed and haw-ed over it for a second, but he eventually nodded his head. "Yeah. I'll never turn down the chance to bum some more money from you, Ash. Though you owe me a bit of a favour."

He grinned at the boy. "And I'll be happy to pay you back any day. So, do we have a deal?"

Gary nodded. "Yes we do. Give me a second to boot up my TM case - I swear I got the one faulty one."

He flicked a button several times before a lid popped open on the top. Ash held his up and copied him, letting the lid slowly rise until it was completely open. He grabbed Payback and closed the lid over the grey disk, searching over the sides. Another lid popped open, much smaller and more circular shaped. He slipped Apep's pokeball inside of it, closing the lid over it. With the press of a button, a soft humming filled the room.

The pokeball began to gleam a dark black, the white line disguised as dark type energy built over its surface. After a few seconds, there was a ping and the energy disappeared into the pokeball, the lid popping open again.

He took out Apep and put Vulpix in, watching the black seep over the red and white pokeball again. It was eery to watch, and he found himself curious as to what Payback would look like.

Gary impatiently held out his hand, Ice Beam set out on the table. He didn't have Wartortle yet to give it to the pokemon and he looked a bit annoyed that Ash had decided to go first.

Leaving Vulpix in the TM case, he grabbed Protect and slipped it in. This time, the pokeball gleamed a bright white like the sunlight in a burning desert had caught its shine just right. Apep looked much the same, and he almost winced as he realized how much information was going to be flooding into their minds as he gave them two moves at the same time. Neither of them would appreciate it much.

Ice Beam glistened a shuddering ice-blue, the color seeming to burn against the pokeball and almost cold to his eyes. When it disappeared he felt like the temperature rose. It was going to be a powerful move when used right, and he was going to make sure that Ro never misused that devastating ice type move.

Gary finished loading Payback into his two pokemon, handing it back over to Ash. He slipped it back into his TM case for safe keeping. He didn't have a need to buy a place for it, at least not yet.

"Remember, we leave early tomorrow. I'd like to get Rock Tunnel with as fast as possible," Gary warned, standing up and slipping his supplies back into his back. Ash watched as the rest of the money on his gift card and two of his potions disappeared into the high quality bag and grinned. Oh, he was waking up at the crack of dawn and pounding on Gary's door until he woke up.

They said their goodbyes, offering one to Nurse Joy as well, which she happily returned. Walking quickly, they each disappeared into their respective rooms. Ash most definitely did not watch Gary for what room he went into.

He collapsed on his bed for a second, closing his eyes. It was late and he was tired, but there was still something he had to do. Grabbing his pokeballs, he released his pokemon on the floor.

All three of them instantly winced as they came out of their stasis, lowering their heads and closing their eyes. He sat back down on his bed, watching them as he clipped their pokeballs back onto his belt. They looked to be deep in thought other than their pained expression.

Ro popped back up the fastest, shaking his horn slowly and blinking crimson eyes. He opened his mouth, concentrating, a chilly blue building in the back of his throat.

Ash flinched heavily and leaped forward, closing his mouth carefully. "Not in here, buddy. We'll work on that move tomorrow, I promise." He turned to the rest of his pokemon. "Vulpix, Apep - how are you feeling? I'm sorry for giving you two moves at once."

The glare Apep leveled him was quite impressive, though the snake soon winced again and rattled his tail. Vulpix grimaced and flexed her tails, slowly straightening back up and shaking her head. It glimmered black for a blink of an eye, the curled edges swamped in heavy shadows.

He widened his eyes. "Not in here, guys! Any of you! We're heading back onto the road tomorrow, and that's when you get to try out your fancy new abilities. But for tonight, let's just sleep."

Changing quickly, he clambered into bed and made room as Vulpix leaped up next to him, landing daintily on her fireproof blanket. Apep shot into the air and curled around his chest, resting his head near his collarbone. Ro grunted and laid down, locking his barbs below his skin for the night.

They all fell asleep quickly.

* * *

"Fuck man, I'm up!" Gary finally shouted through the door, voice muffled and groggy. There was the distinct sound of something slamming into the ground and then another frustrated groan.

"But I thought you said you wanted to be up early for today!" Ash chirped through the door. Only by splashing water on his face for a couple of minutes and slapping himself several times had he been able to wake up this early and still be functional. But it was all worth it - and his face wasn't even wet after having Vulpix use a Will-O-Wisp close to him, handling it carefully in front of his nose.

"Fuck off," Gary grumbled through the door. Ash could hear the sink turn on and water started to splash. There weren't any more noises until he heard the rustle of clothes and then the door opened, letting the boy who looked half dead already slide outside, bags the size of a snorlax under his eyes.

"How the hell are you so awake?" He asked, rubbing his eyes. His pokeballs were clipped to his waist and his backpack was slung over his shoulder, but that was where his readiness ended. All of his clothes were rumpled and put on with minimal effort, missing buttons and shoes tied loosely.

Ash just grinned. "I'm a pokemon trainer, Gar-bear. We all get up this early. I thought you were too?"

Gary scoffed, starting to walk towards the stairs. "I don't believe you for a second, you bastard. I bet you had to put so many alarms up that Nurse Joy heard them from three floors down."

He shrugged innocently. "I still got up earlier than you, didn't I? And that means we're late, because you still can't keep your lazy bum to move."

Gary grinned. "Bum, really? Are you still on your mom filter? I remember the smackdown she gave you the first time you said shit in front of her. Even _I_ managed to censor myself in front of her."

Ash sighed but smiled. "Yeah, it's a tough habit to break. I still blame you one hundred and ten percent for getting me into that situation. I know for a fact that Professor Oak didn't teach you to swear but you still made it your mission to get me to learn such-" he mimed fainting "-vulgarity."

Gary snorted, almost completely awake now, and they both clapped each other on the back and started to walk down the stairs. They were the first up, though with the strength Ash had been pounding on Gary's door, probably more than a few disgruntled trainers would be getting up soon. If they wanted to avoid being curb stomped by an annoyed 13-year-old, they'd have to leave soon.

Nurse Joy wasn't behind her desk, but instead a black haired man with a gentle smile and a strength that came from working the night shift waved hello to them, which they both returned. "Heading out for the day?" He asked, voice warm. The man settled forward onto the desk.

Ash nodded. "Yeah. Do you have any tips for getting past Route 9? Or the Rock Tunnel?"

The man pursed his lips. "Well, I guess you have to have a little more food than you'd think. The trail gets pretty hard the closer you get to the Rock Tunnel, as the actual tunnel is pretty high up on the mountain. It should be about three days there, maybe four if you stop to battle everyone that appears in front of you. Not a lot of rare pokemon there. Pretty much what you've seen before, though there are a few raticate that can give a decent trainer a run for their money."

"Oh!" He perked up. "There are a few swarms around the area. Not too many, but piss them off and you better have a monster on your team that can defend against up to a dozen pokemon. Most often they're in groups of five-ish, and there aren't too many. But we've seen a couple of sableye swarms that have sent beginning trainers running back here as fast as they could."

He leveled them with a steely eye. "Of course, I hope you are coming back here instead of heading to Lavender Town, which just so happens to be off limits to trainers below five badges, right?"

Gary grumbled "Why does everyone have to have five badges?" just as Ash nodded.

The man smiled. "Rock Tunnel can have a few pretty cool pokemon, but I'll level it with you - there actually aren't that many strong pokemon there. A ton of geodude, zubat, and the occasional machop, but there isn't actually much else. But a word of advice - it is a killer place to train. Just spend a day there even you don't find any good pokemon and just challenge everything you see. They might not make mincemeat of your team but the sheer number of battles can really get your pokemon strong. Of course, you could always find a few pokemon in there worth their buck."

Ash nodded and grinned widely at the quick lecture. It was a bit disappointing to hear that many of the pokemon there weren't strong, but he needed a new challenge in his training, and this was turning out to be just the push he needed. He bet that by the time he got to Vermillion, in about two and a half weeks, all of his pokemon would have learned their new attacks. TMs were incredibly easy to learn as they uploaded the information directly onto the pokemon's mind, and the only thing left to do was practice, though that would still be difficult. Ice Beam in particular was a powerful move and Ro could and would easily overpower it and exhaust himself.

But Rock Tunnel awaited, and on the three days of traveling there, he'd be able to get his pokemon ready to tackle Surge and his electric pokemon. Though he didn't have any super effective moves, he bet his mismatch of powerful attacks would be able to break down Surge's team.

The boys both excused themselves from the Pokecenter and headed out onto the road. The sun hadn't even come over the horizon - Gary shot Ash a dark glare - but the warm Kanto heat settled nicely over them as they searched quickly for any sort of sign pointing toward Route 9.

There was one near the middle of town pointing to the east. It didn't have any other description on it, just a simple 9 and the wood carved to form an arrow pointing off toward a paved road.

Walking quickly, they made it to the edge of the town and caught their first glimpse of the wild trainer route once again. No trainers were visible and that left it just to them, hard packed dirt disappearing into surrounding forests. But Ash had read a bit on the route and it changed to open grasslands about a day in and then changed again to rocky terrain once they got close enough to the mountain. There probably wouldn't be that many trainers either of them could handle with Lavender Town being closed to those below five badges, although maybe when they were heading back they could catch a few battles with trainers more at their admittedly lower level.

With a glance at each other, they started to walk down the path.

Within only a couple of minutes, they had settled into a comfortable companionship. With them traveling for about twelve days together, there was no way they'd be able to have a different and fun conversation every minute, so they kept quiet unless something interested happened or they got an idea.

After about five minutes, Ash released his pokemon to walk beside him. He explained that it was endurance training to keep his pokemon able to fight for longer and strengthen their core, as well as trying to get a little speed on Ro before he evolved into the already notoriously slow nidoking, and that was without adding in the fact he was kingsize. Gary nodded and released both Wartortle and Persian, who yawned and peered around in slight confusion. He explained it quickly and then they started to walk again.

Ash found it very entertaining how Apep took to his new traveling companions. He always kept one furious gold eye on Wartortle, even when he nearly slammed into a large rock. He was also determined to be in front, even going to the point where Ash had to stop him and feed him an oran berry to stop him from passing out in the middle of the route. Wartortle was both bipedal and actually had feet to walk on, and the turtle gave Apep a smug look as the snake tried to speed up once again.

Vulpix looked at Persian but didn't react other than that. She didn't seem like the type to hold a grudge - cough cough Apep cough cough - and once she had checked out the cat for any sign of aggression and had found none, she seemed perfectly content to just trot alongside Ash. He managed to convince her to try and keep a Will-O-Wisp above her head as she walked, and the burning ball of white flames flickered above her tails, bobbing lightly in the air. She didn't look at it, which definitely decreased her ability to control it a bit, but after an hour she was able to keep it constant in the air.

Ro, of course, didn't care about any new company. He just grunted and lumbered after the group, crimson eyes focused on the ground as he tried his best to keep moving. Ash kept up a constant flow of oran berries to make him be able to keep running, though his supply was running low.

They traveled quickly for five hours, not running into a single trainer. While he had predicted it, it was still a bit disappointing - with the very quick decrease in funds caused by buying Payback, he would never turn down the opportunity to earn a buck or two. In fact, he needed it.

Stopping for lunch was a fast affair. Curing exhaustion through large quantities of berries, he scarfed down his bar and nuts, watching Gary pull out a higher quality meal with only a twinge of jealousy. His pokemon sniffed curiously at their new and improved meals but ate them anyway.

For Ro, he had finally upgraded sizes and had picked up an omnivore mix, which was what nidoran were. The pokemon dug his face happily into the brown pellets, lapping up the ones he spilled.

Apep got a carnivore mix, same as Vulpix. The pleased hiss he gave as he finished it up showed his appreciation.

He grabbed a small bowl from his bag, walking a bit closer to Gary. "Hey, can I have some water?"

The boy barely looked up, flicking a finger at Wartortle. "Go ask him."

The pokemon eyed the bowl curiously before spitting out a mouthful of water. The clear liquid splashed a little over the edges of the black bowl but the majority landed safely inside, ripples spreading before it went flat. Wartortle grunted happily at it before going back to his large meal.

Ash set it down in front of Vulpix, who hissed. She hadn't gotten any water from the two streams they had crossed so far and was in need of a little water, though he didn't want to risk waiting for another stream.

"Just use an Ember on it and drink the steam, okay? Do you remember what Bill told you?"

She nodded and breathed out a long tongue of flame, the edge breaking apart into small embers that bounced around the fireproof bowl.

But the main part of the heat smacked into the water, evaporating it instantly. She opened her mouth a bit hesitantly and stuck it into the twisting grey steam, eyes narrowing. There was a flinch as steam hit her body but it didn't seem to hurt her as she drank her fill, and when he closed her mouth and stared over her chest, where the steam had hit there. She seemed surprised by the lack of pain.

Ash grinned as he stroked her behind the ears. She rumbled happily and pressed into his hand, tails flicking behind her. He slipped the bowl back into his bag and shrugged it on just as all of their pokemon finished their meals, though Persian growled as Gary accidentally kicked away a spare pellet of hers.

Gary slipped his bag over his shoulder, grabbing the straps and tightening them over his shoulders. He grinned at Ash, stretching hands above his head as his pokemon disappeared in bursts of scarlet light. "Ready to head off again? We'll travel for another couple of hours, until about five before starting to train."

Ash nodded. "Fine by me."

They walked onto the path again, their pokemon trotting at their heels. (Or desperately trying to be in front, in the case of Apep.)

When the clock clicked over to five, they pulled off the route and headed into the woods. After finding a small clearing. Gary immediately grabbed a stick and scratched a line across the middle of the clearing, though it could hardly be called straight. He threw the stick back into the woods and pointed at the side Ash was standing on.

"That's your side to train. I'll stay on mine. We'll stop in a couple of hours, but for now, don't disturb me unless a random dratini shows up in the woods." With that, Gary turned to his side and began releasing pokemon.

Ash grinned and turned to his pokemon, who were all healed up from their exhaustion. "Okay guys, we're going to be working on your new moves. I know you haven't had any time to work on them, so we'll do our best."

He pointed at a thick tree whose trunk probably was the size of Apep. "Ro, I want you to use Ice Beam on that tree. Make sure to start it off nice and easy for now, bud. We'll increase power later."

The nidoran paused, opening his mouth. The same chilly white energy built in his throat, the cold seeming to burn through the air, hoarfrost nipping at his legs. He shivered, hairs standing up.

Ro narrowed his eyes and the energy flew back into his mouth, the ice type move building up strength. With a muffled roar, Ro spat out the blistering energy in a brilliant beam of white light a foot across.

It slammed into the tree, frost crystals instantly creeping over the bark. Once the light faded, Ash could see a crack in the tree completely coated in two inches of crystal clear ice, too cold to even steam in the air.

His pokedex had warned him of ghost type moves, saying that being around them without being used to their energy could often leave the trainer feeling heavily creeped out and with even a sense of paranoia if they didn't get used to it soon. As they were not from their world, it could leave the trainer feeling lost and confused. But it hadn't said anything about the almost fear he had had of ice type moves, though he hoped he'd get used to the ice soon. He hoped.

"I thought I said we should tone it down for the first time, buddy," he said a bit weakly, patting the panting nidoran on the head. The pokemon seemed confused as he stared at the scar of ice across the tree.

Ash shook his head. "Just work on controlling the power, Ro. Also, maybe try to charge it while you're moving? It could help with your battles and might help you to decrease the power a little bit."

Ro nodded, opening his mouth up once again. White trickled from his jaws as the ice built around his throat.

He turned back to Apep and Vulpix. She seemed a bit startled at the move though she knew she was strong enough against it, though if it melted on her it could start to become a problem. Apep looked challenged. As per usual.

Walking around his side of the clearing and peeking into the woods a bit, he finally managed to gather enough stones slightly smaller than his fist, about roughly the same size as a pokeball. He turned back to Vulpix and Apep, stacking them in a small pile as he sat down facing them.

"I'm going to hit you guys with these," he said, holding one up. "And then you're going to transfer the energy into pain and dark type energy and hit the ground with Payback. Don't hit each other, please."

Apep hissed and readied himself, tail flicking. Vulpix narrowed her eyes and flex her tails, letting them thump against the ground. He gave them both a second to explore the new ideas in their mind, teaching them how to harness the new dark type energy thrumming through their blood.

He tossed the first stone at Apep, throwing it as lightly as it could. This was also training for him, letting him learn more accuracy for throwing pokeballs so he could catch pokemon more easily.

The stone bounced off of Apep's back, snapping his head to the ground. He hissed furiously, briefly forgetting Payback as the pain shot through him. But after a second he reared up, tail humming a dark black. It carved a notch into the ground, apparently the same strength as the rock hitting him.

The next stone landed on Vulpix. She squeaked but didn't even pause, whirling around. The circular motion helped her to fling the energy to her tails and as they slammed into the ground, they were drenched in pitch black shadows.

This continued for about two hours. They had to stop every couple of minutes for Ash to find all of the stones again and when they finally stopped, it was because the bruises they were slowly but steadily gaining over their back were growing to be a bit too much for them to still be able to fight.

He healed them up quickly, coating their backs heavily in potions. Vulpix purred happily as she healed, though Apep looked like he was ready to start training right up again. He paused them both, letting them recover as he trotted over to check on Ro.

The nidoran glanced up at him, breathing hard. He seemed exhausted by the constant use of his new move, but Ash couldn't believe how fast they were learning their new moves. It had taken him nearly two weeks for Apep and Ro to learn new type moves, and here they were getting the basics down in only a single day.

Ash couldn't hide how his eyes flew open wide. Ro still had a far way to go in learning control over Ice Beam.

The entire tree was coated heavily in glistening ice, a pool of frigid water building up at the bottom. Even the leaves were covered with a thin layer of frost, the previously green surfaces glittering a silvery white like freshly fallen snow. The temperature dropped dramatically as he walked over.

"Good job. But how have you been trying to control it?" He asked, leaning down to stroke Ro behind his ears.

The nidoran rumbled angrily, opening his mouth one more time. The ice type energy built inside of his mouth, spreading out from his throat. He just held it for a couple of seconds, keeping it inside his mouth, and Ash could see the glaring light fade slightly as he managed to reduce the power.

The Ice Beam that exploded toward the tree in a shimmering bolt of light was still far too powerful, and Ro fully passed out after launching it.

Ash grimaced at the creeping frost spreading down onto the grass and hurried over to his bag to grab one of his revives. He had bought himself back up to ten, though he didn't think he'd ever buy more. It was a comfortable number that allowed him to train hard and battle harder while still being able to keep his pokemon out and training as he moved from town to town.

Popping the diamond shape open, he poured the powder into Ro's mouth, slipping an oran berry in as well. With a grumble, the nidoran woke back up, snorting angrily. He glared at the tree like it had stolen something from him.

"Come on, bud," Ash sighed, grabbing his shoulder before he could stab the tree with his horn, which would go poorly with the sheer amount of ice covering all of it. Honestly, wasn't Ro supposed to be the levelheaded one out of his pokemon?

"Okay. I've got an idea. What you need to do to reduce the power is something that Vulpix does, at least for the moment." He raised his voice, cupping his hands around his mouth. "Vulpix! Come here please."

The fox pokemon perked up and trotted toward him, leaving Apep behind. She tilted her head at him, blinking large grey eyes. He glanced at her tails, which were pointed up as normal. Heat shimmered the air above them and he could feel the sting from the cold fade as she sat next to him.

"I want you to form a Will-O-Wisp in your mouth, please. But don't release it just yet," he asked, settling down so he could face both Ro and Apep.

She did as he asked, the gleaming white flames burning in the back of her throat. He stared deep into the fire, tilting Ro's head so he did the same. The nidoran rumbled in curiosity, head tilted.

"Now, release a bit of your inner flame. Don't hit any of us." He moved a little bit back, eyes flicking between the two of his pokemon.

She breathed out a tongue of flame, the red-hot edges curling away into the warm air. Ro took one step back, no doubt still remembering the Will-O-Wisps landing on his back as training, though he stepped close the next second, staring in almost confusion at the much weaker Will-O-Wisp in her throat.

"Thanks, Vulpix," he said, gesturing at her. She narrowed her eyes and released the ball of fire, letting it do three spins above her head before she turned around, slamming it toward the tree with her tail. The ice hissed as it made contact, water sliding down the bark. A hole was burned neatly in the ice, showing the dark brown tree trunk beneath the several inches of ice over it.

He turned back to Ro, holding up his hands as he mimicking forming a ball of fire in his hands. "See, when you tried to reduce the power, you sucked the energy back inside of your mouth. It didn't reduce much power because your lungs aren't meant to handle that cold and they stopped reducing the power in order to protect yourself. But when Vulpix did it, she breathed out and was able to reduce the power greatly and safely. Eventually, you'll learn how to make the right sized Ice Beam right from the start, but this is how we're going to make this work before we can teach you the right amount of control. Ice type moves are already difficult and you're doing so well, buddy."

Ro rumbled as he scratched his ears.

"So let's try that again. And remember, breath out."

This time, Ro paused for much longer as he formed the Ice Beam in his throat, narrowing his eyes and moving the ice type move around in his mouth. Then he sucked in a deep breath and pushed the energy out.

Gleaming white air floated out of his mouth, chilling the air dramatically. The energy seeped over the grass, tinting it a light silver, but the Ice Beam still in Ro's mouth was much smaller. And when he fired it, the ice barely spread over a portion of the tree about the size of Ro himself.

Ash grinned. "Good job, bud. Again."

He eventually went back to training Vulpix and Apep, leaving Ro working on powered down Ice Beams. He wanted them to learn Payback before trying to tackle Protect. Protect was the first defensive move that any of them would have to learn other than the Leer Apep had known since he was born. That was probably going to take a while even with the assistance of a TM.

They went to sleep at a little past nine. Gary hadn't told him much about what he had trained on, though he was definitely going to ask him as they kept traveling down Route 9. Apep had hissed as Wartortle one last time before the pokemon was recalled, though Ash had just rolled his eyes and yanked the pokemon back over to his side as he laid down on the fireproof blanket he had bought.

Vulpix curled up next to him, Ro pressed against his feet. They fell asleep under brilliant, gleaming stars.

* * *

Route 9 passed quickly. With no other trainers to battle and the wild pokemon shy enough they stayed away from the main road, they didn't have much to do but travel quickly with their pokemon.

Ash most definitely interrogated Gary about his training, but the boy didn't actually have much to say. It had gone well - Persian had nailed Wartortle with a wicked Payback after he used a weakened Ice Beam on her and it had nearly knocked him out. Spearow was getting closer and closer to evolution with every passing hour, and Gary had even let him out to start flying around, hoping to strengthen his wings before he gained a lot of weight with his evolution to fearow.

The trees eventually faded away as the grasses grew taller and taller, eventually reaching to nearly above his head. They were a brilliant golden color that swung gently in the wind, hardened tips rustling against each other in an almost soothing melody that calmed even Apep.

But it was also a bit worrying, because Ash had heard many stories of trainers who were attacked by swarms of pokemon from the grasses when their only warning was a sudden shaking of the grass before they struck. While it was a surefire way to find a pokemon by jumping into the grass, sometimes the ones found were a little too much for trainers to handle. And of course, there was always the fear of getting lost.

Gary eyed the grass with interest, glancing up at Spearow. The bird was soaring over the grass fields, scanning the ground with beady eyes. With a squawk, Spearow glared fiercely at a certain section of grass before flapping down to land on Gary's shoulder, stretching his red wings.

Gary made a motion to head into the grass towards the area that Spearow had motioned, but the bird smacked his trainer over the head with his wing. As Gary frowned at him, the bird shook his head no.

"Guess he doesn't want to go there," Ash offered. Gary frowned and brushed his hair back into place, stroking Spearow's wings.

"Guess not. I do wonder what's back there, though," he said almost longingly, fingering an empty pokemon attached to the extra slot on the side of his waist. Spearow smacked him again.

"Alright, alright, I get it. We'll keep moving."

And move on they did. Traveling quickly, they managed to make some time, several rocks starting to appear by the time they stopped for lunch. That was a pretty sure sign they were getting close to the mountain, though they didn't have any way of trying to see it over the tall grass.

But they each grinned at each other when passing a rock nearly the size of both of them put together. Rock types were strong battlers, using their defense much more than their offense, which made them great opponents for training up pokemon, because they could handle lots of new moves while still moving around, letting them be able to learn how to hit a moving target without having to be training against their fellow pokemon. And the man at the Pokecenter had mentioned machop, which were fighting types that could evolve into monsters that were very difficult to fight against without a lightning fast pokemon that could dodge their attacks or a ghost type that wasn't affected. He didn't know whether he'd capture one, but if he could battle against one, that would be great.

They traveled quickly until about five again, stopping to train their pokemon. Gary once again split up their new clearing, smugly taking the larger side with the reasoning that he had more pokemon. Ash gave it to him with a pretty fair amount of grumbling, sticking his tongue out.

Ro got a bit better with his Ice Beam, but he just didn't have the control needed. As of right then, he was just firing a burst of ice type energy. It sometimes didn't even hit the tree, blasting off into the forest in a streak of silver white. When mastered, Ice Beam could be as small as a pencil and used to freeze a burn or put out a fire. Ro had the strength behind the move that would crush dragon types, but the control was right up there in most important moves. So he didn't let the pokemon stop training unless it was to heal him of exhaustion from constantly using the move. Ro got tired quickly from the new energy - he didn't produce it naturally like he did his poison, and so had to work hard for every shot he took. But he worked at it with a determination that Ash found inspiring, pausing for the bare minimum after every use before diving right back in. At the end of the night, he had Vulpix burn away the copious amounts of ice.

For Apep and Vulpix, he kept tossing rocks at them, still working on channeling their energy into a form that could be used and directed to be able to harm their opponent. When he judged by the weight of the rocks versus the scratches against the ground, he could tell that they were losing a lot of the energy when they transferred it into their tail. Or tails. He needed them to fully push the pain and anger they felt into their move, and dark type moves thrived on rage. One of his rocks bounced right off of Apep's nose and the black energy over his tail had seemed to writhe as he slammed it down on the ground, hissing angrily. Ash had apologized but Apep seemed to like the mark he had made against the ground.

The next day, the grass began to fade away a little after lunch. There still weren't any more trainers walking around, but Gary had used Spearow to slam away a rattata that had been trying to steal his food. Spearow had gleamed brightly but he hadn't evolved, at least not yet. But he was so close it was upsetting his balance, muscles bulged and ready while his body was so small. Gary had to get him to evolve soon, otherwise the tiny bird pokemon could become almost useless in battle.

As it neared five, they reached the base of the mountain. It stood tall in front of them, grey rock gleaming in the light. It wasn't nearly as tall as Mount Moon - almost minuscule, actually - but the Rock Tunnel was at least a couple dozen feet up over some very rough terrain. The League tried to clean it every year, but small avalanches happened nearly every couple of days on the mountain and the path was covered in a matter of a month. So it was just another trying test for trainers.

Gary and Ash were up to the job.

Ash recalled Ro to the nidoran's relieved expression, but Apep and Vulpix both stayed out. He wanted to see how they could jump and leap over rocks. While they weren't in a battle trying to dodge, it would be helpful practice. Gary kept out Persian and Spearow, who shrieked a challenge at the rocks as he swooped overhead. Persian just stared at the rocks, very unimpressed. With a single leap, she cleared five feet and landed on top of a boulder, rumbling at her trainer to hurry up.

Gary took the challenge and sped up, forcing Ash to quickly come up with a new path. His idea came to as he watched Persian - instead of trying to squeeze between rocks and stay on the path, he jumped onto the boulders and leaped from each one to the next. It didn't work nearly as well for him, but within a minute he had passed Gary. He emerged on top with stinging knees and scuffed palms and a triumphant smile.

Rock Tunnel gleamed with darkness, seemingly much darker than Mount Moon had been. But Ash had his flashlight at the ready, the narrow beam cutting through the heavy shadows.

They were going in for about an hour before heading out - there wasn't any chance they were going to risk getting lost in the mountain right as night came. That, while it wouldn't be suicide, would be a severe disaster that neither of them were at all ready for. Stronger pokemon normally came out at night, especially the carnivorous ones. Hunting was much easier in the darkness.

They both recalled most of their pokemon, Ash ignoring Apep's annoyed hiss. Gary kept Spearow out though, letting him flap slowly above their heads as the tiny bird pokemon cawed a challenge to any pokemon in front of them within the dark crevices of the Rock Tunnel yawning ahead.

Gary stepped in first, unclipping his own flashlight from his belt. Together, they were able to make a rough estimate of what was in front of them. It was mainly rocks and stone walls, the ground covered in rock dust.

They walked slowly, careful not to disturb too many wild pokemon. Though the sounds were faint, something definitely scuttled in front of them. Claws clicked against the stone, but they couldn't catch the creature, and soon enough there was the scratch of scales against stone and the pokemon disappeared.

The halls were dark but relatively straight, after the first curve the League had added in order to cut off the light from outside. As much as it was making these paths for trainers, they were home to pokemon first - and pokemon like zubat and paras just couldn't handle the bright light from the sun during all hours of the day. It could leave them permanently blind or severely disabled, which meant death in the wild.

There were still lanterns though, placed evenly across the tunnels. The same soft, muted blue light shone over the ground, showing sandshrew scratches and geodude craters tucked close to the walls where they couldn't have seen them with their flashlights. But it seemed like they couldn't find a pokemon.

But it wasn't for long before they did. Only a little bit before they wanted to leave, a geodude wrenched itself from the ground and glared at them with narrowed black eyes. It pounded two fists together, the sound of grating stone echoing around the Rock Tunnel with a sense of foreboding.

Ash stared at the pokemon. While it had challenged Gary, the stone making up its body was very rough and made up of thick bumps and protruding chunks of rock. It was feisty - and it was also very young and inexperienced. He didn't want this pokemon, no matter how it'd help him during Surge.

He stepped back, waving his hand forward. "You can take it, Gary. Spearow seriously needs to evolve."

Gary grinned, cracking his knuckles. "Why thank you. Don't mind if I cream this dude to kingdom come. Spearow, let's do this."

The bird shrieked and landed on the ground, eyes narrowed and beak shining. Ash aimed his flashlight at the battlefield to try and give some extra light so Gary could concentrate on the battle.

Geodude flickered grey and surged forward, but Spearow just cawed and flew up over the attack, which Ash recognized as Tackle. It slammed into the ground, not even able to stop itself as it ground its own face into the stone.

"Peck!" Gary called, a smug expression on his face. He did not seem worried about this battle in the slightest.

Geodude managed to haul itself up for another Tackle, shining that same off-white grey. But Spearow managed to turn neatly around in the tight tunnel and lunge back down, beak glowing. The attack slammed into Geodude's side. It grunted deeply with pain, falling back to the ground.

After a second, it slammed its palms against the ground and launched itself into the air, eyes narrowed and mouth set in a hard line. Beating its fists against its body, Geodude rocketed forward even faster than before.

But Spearow was much faster and he just flapped his wings once and floated merrily above the attack, squawking mockingly. Without another command, he swooped down and nailed Geodude's back with another Peck.

Geodude grumbled, but it managed to stay airborne. Turning around again, it flashed once again with the normal type energy for Tackle. This pokemon was a one-trick ponyta. That was definitely a reason not to capture it.

But even as Geodude shifted forward for another attack, Spearow landed on the ground and shrieked out in joy. He started to shine with a brilliant light that easily filled the entire tunnel in the mountain.

Spearow swelled, doubling and then tripling in size. His feathers darkened to a rich brown, the tips sharpening and bubbling as they grew to support his new body. His beak lengthened enormously until it protruded from his face like a horn, his eyes permanently narrowed in anger. With a flash, he cawed once, the sound much louder and deeper than before.

The evolution was complete.

Fearow flapped his wings once, testing out their new size. He was nearly as tall as Ash now, his crest of feathers poking above his head. He preened, plucking a dead feather from his chest and staring at the new size within his beak. He glowed a light blue and flapped his wings for real, stirring a breeze that nearly knocked Ash's hat off.

Geodude looked suitably more frightened and carefully retreated away from them, disappearing into the darkness of the tunnel.

"Let's get out of here," Ash suggested. "Go check out what Fearow can do now that he's evolved."

Gary's eyes snapped to him from where they had been checking out Fearow's new form. "That's not a half bad idea. Come on, Fearow."

The bird shrieked happily even as Gary recalled him, which made sense. With his new size, it was already a struggle to fit through the tunnel - and that was without him not knowing his new limits as a fearow.

They moved a lot faster heading outside than in, perhaps because they already knew which way to move and turn. There were a few grumbles by disturbed wild pokemon, but they weren't challenged and they made it out in a third of the time of what it took for them to get into the tunnel.

Once they were outside, they could see the sun reaching a settling place just a few feet away from the horizon, its golden beams stretching far over the grassy fields below. Ash stared down the dangerous slope to the bottom of the mountain. He really didn't want to climb that again.

"Gary, what do you say about just staying up here for the night? We can sleep on that ledge over there - it's plenty big enough for all of us and we can just train on the rocks. It took us like fifteen minutes to get up that slope and I swear my palms stung more than if I had ripped them open."

Gary scoffed but snickered too, raising his hand in surrender. "Sure. That doesn't sound half bad. I'll start training over there - make sure not to disturb Fearow if he accidentally crashlands near you. I don't know how hard it'll be for him to learn how to fly again with his new body."

Ash tilted his hat towards him. "Will do."

They both walked over to their respective areas, Ash claiming a small area surrounded by a ring of large boulders. He didn't even have to worry about harming a tree with Ice Beam if they were using a rock, which would be nice when he reached started to teach Ro how to get Ice Beam stronger instead of more in control. And Apep and Vulpix could finally have a standing target for their Paybacks.

He released all of his pokemon, letting them stretch and yawn and glare at him darkly in the case of Apep. The ekans was still a bit annoyed at being recalled before he went into the tunnel, probably remembering what had happened all the way back in Mount Moon. He still remembered how Apep and Ro had guarded him on both sides as they walked back through the mountain.

With a bit of shifting his pokemon, he managed to get Ro in a corner facing a boulder to practice Ice Beam on. The nidoran glared at the rock, poking it once with his horn to test its hardness. With a rumble, he began to charge the ice type energy deep in his throat, a bit spilling out from the sides.

Apep and Vulpix glared at the much larger stones he carried with him, but they still tensed and got ready as he gave them each a boulder to aim at with their Paybacks. Apep glared at his.

As he trained with his pokemon, he could hear angry shrieks overhead and once he glanced up, he could see the dark brown shape of Fearow flying steadily overhead. He stuttered once, nearly falling, but the pokemon caught himself and managed to fly back up with a determined shriek.

He continued to train, occasionally going over and checking on Ro to see how his Ice Beams were coming along. He was definitely gaining a bit of higher control, and his Ice Beams were much thinner than they had been before, though they still packed a definite punch that was actually carving a crevice into the rock, though the boulder was too large to actually crack in half, though with enough time he believed that Ro could do it.

Apep and Vulpix made good progress. Vulpix managed to slam her tail hard enough into the boulder after a large rock to send a crack racing along its surface, and Apep was suitably jealous enough to do it only three rocks later. They had taken to bringing him the rocks after he threw them in order to be able to do more training, and it really showed how invested they were in becoming stronger.

He was so happy to have them as his pokemon. The sheer strength that they showed when training and when compared to how many more battles they were winning just made him so proud.

They trained for a little less than average, preparing to dive deep into the Rock Tunnel tomorrow. Most of the day would go by with them inside the mountain's cold embrace of stone and having pokemon in tip-top shape would help them if they ever came across a monster or two down there.

A burst of water shot incredibly high into the air, the Water Gun increasing in thickness before thinning out and losing momentum, finally stopping its upward surge and fanning out to fall to earth in a sort of raincloud, presumably soaking everyone underneath it. His guess was correct, if Gary's sudden cursing was anything to do by. But that was the signal that Gary was turning in for the night, and so would he. He set the rock he was holding down, making Vulpix bark in confusion.

"We're stopping for the night, guys. Tomorrow is going to be a big day for all of us - we might even get a new pokemon to work with." Vulpix perked up at his words, though Apep looked a little sullen. He patted the snake.

"Come on. We'll be sleeping on rock tonight, but I'll put our old blanket underneath to try and make it as comfortable as possible."

The ledge was made of very hard stone, something much less forgiving than the simple dirt of the forest and grassland. He shifted uncomfortably for a few minutes, trying to force more blanket under his shoulders so they wouldn't throb tomorrow morning. Apep hissed at him before he stopped complaining once he stopped moving. HIs head was a bit unsupported but he and all of his pokemon were in at least a semi-decent position. Next time, he'd do the damn climb and sleep on wonderful soft dirt.

Gary had dug out an honest mat, probably made specifically for times like this. It looked thick and comfortable but there was still a rather displeased expression on the boy's face as he settled in.

The Rock Tunnel sounded with the nighttime chirp of paras moving around, and the gentle sound of zubat echolocation trilled through the air. The mountain rumbled and settled, wind bouncing off of its surface as the moon finally rose above the horizon.

Apep was curled beneath his chin, having steadily moved closer to his heart in order to suck up more body heat. He was coiled up completely, his body a mass of coils with only his tail sticking out the back and his head flopped over Ash's neck, breath warm against his throat. He wasn't much of a mover once he fell asleep but there had been times he had unknowingly hissed and rattled his tail, waking everyone up. Ash knew there were fangs glittering inside his mouth that could rip out his throat.

Vulpix was up against his side, her back pressed against his ribcage. Her tails flicked while she slept and occasional tongues of flame escaped from her lips, but she was always careful to aim her muzzle toward either the fireproof blanket or the rock before she fell asleep. There was a steady heat from her back, a constant warmth that left him wondering whether he needed the blanket at all, his side pulsing with heat. Ash knew there was a fire burning within her capable of turning him to charcoal.

Ro was by his feet, tucked into a tiny ball. He had his barbs locked beneath his skin and his horn was pressed against the cold stone, crimson eyes fluttering for a few seconds before falling flat. His clawed feet were sunk deeply into the blanket, giving him the extra heat he needed as a cold-blooded pokemon. He was twitchy while awake, startling at random noises and always keenly aware of every other pokemon, but while asleep, he finally relaxed, head falling still and muscles untensing. Ash knew there was a poison beneath his skin that could kill him in minutes.

Ash knew all of this, he knew how dangerous pokemon could be. He had heard stories of pokemon gone wild, whether they were already captured or just found in the wild, attacking with a ferocity that couldn't be reached. There were white sheets in the world that had covered trainers too small to handle the pokemon they had just captured and the world knew it - no matter how much it tried to hide every pokemon behind the smiling face of eevee and the Kanto starters, it knew of the monsters out in the world that were capable of killing humans with any attack.

Ash knew all of this, and yet there was not a single moment as he laid there and fell asleep that he ever felt scared of his pokemon.

* * *

 **Hey guys! Another chapter for y'all!**

 **This one is a bit of a filler, I guess. Most of it is training and traveling, but I felt it was important to get a bit of this in. I'm not going to lie - in my original plan I had this chapter stretching all the way to Saffron, but obviously, that wasn't going to happen. Hell, I couldn't even make it very far into Rock Tunnel!**

 **I swear, the next chapter will be more exciting. I wonder, will Ash find his next pokemon within Rock Tunnel? I guess only time will tell….**

 **For you guys. I already know ;)**

 **But yeah! I really like writing Ash and Gary together. I know a lot of stories portray him as a selfish bastard who doesn't care about his pokemon, and a lot of Ash rewrite stories have three modes - an asshole, not present, or going to more realistic route and trying to write him as an actual ten-year-old journeying across Kanto with a rivalry with his best friend. I hope I'm able to capture it at least slightly while still keeping some aspects from canon him in. I think he'd work well with a persian. The classy cat pokemon with an attitude as well - almost makes me wonder whether I should bring Meowth back into this story...**

 **Oh! Quick question! A wonderful reviewer told me that pokemon names should be capitalized - should I go back and fix it? I kind of want to, but I'd like to ask you guys first…**

 **Anyway! Onto answering reviews!**

 **(We're nearly to one hundred, come on guys!)**

 **TYRANT TYMPOLE**

 **I really like this book!**

 **Apep is funny and adorable. I don't really have a liking towards snake pokemon, but Apep is different. At least to me.**

 **Do what you think is best for the book. If you think he should specialize, do it. But I would make it so he has at least one or two pokemon that aren't poison types. If you do make it so Ash specializes, I would really like it if Ash had a tentacool/tentacruel.**

 **They're just so bulky and cool and they provide a counter to ground types if he can figure a way to avoid ground type moves. Which we would, if there's a pool on the battlefield or they battle near a lake or the ocean. :D**

 **And I know I'm only reading the first chapter, and you have 7, but it would be cool if he got a Houndour or Houndoom. You have the fire type that Ash wanted and a dark type. It provides a counter for psychic types. And I know that's another ground weakness, but look at Alain. He won the Kalos league and has multiple big weaknesses on his team: (fairy, fire, and fighting). Ash got second, and three out of four of his pokemon were weak to electric attacks.**

 **What about a dodrio? For later on maybe. I know it's one of the only flying types that can't fly, but they're really powerful and it would be fun to see how you do the three different heads' personalities.**

 **My response to your question is assuming you only allow Kanto Pokemon, and maybe a few Johto mons here and there. If not, I have a few more options. I'm not counting the eeveelutions or later evolutions introduced, however. I'm assuming they're in this book, since their first evolutions were introduced in Kanto.**

I know this review is for chapter 1, but I still really like the way you called this a book. I hope one day it'll be long enough to be considered that :D

And oh yeah are tentacool and tentacruel cool. I literately fell in love with them during my like second game and tried to have at least one on my team for the beginning. It would be really cool for Ash to get one, you're right. I'll try my best!

Alain is pretty cool and I'm definitely not going to try to counter every single one of his weaknesses. That's what strategies are for… but yeah, Giovanni is going to suck later on. Poor Ash.

Oh, and don't you worry. You'll see a doduo in this story eventually. I really like them too.

Yeah, mainly Kanto with some Johto, though there's always random other water and flying types that show up because that's the most realistic. Thank you so much for your review! It made me feel really happy.

 **SUPERNATURALROMANTIC**

 **I'm liking this story a lot. Ash has great Pokémon and his personality in this is good. His friendship/rivalry with Gary is great. Can't wait to see if Ash doesn't listen to Gary and goes to Lavender Town anyway, maybe he'll catch a powerful ghost-type. Keep up the good work.**

Thank you! I'm really glad that you like it, and I hope you got a little bit of Ash not listening to Gary in this chapter, though there will be even more of later on! His ghost-type will come in soon. Thank you so much for your review!

 **RIBANOID**

 **Amazing chapter I really love how innovative you are when it comes to the Pokemon battles and the different things they can do other than just spamming Pokemon attacks. I wonder how things will work out in Lavender Town and if Ash will actually get involved. Ps. I sent you a PM with more ideas.**

 **Keep up the great work**

Thanks! I hope you guys like them - I'll admit, I have to spend like twenty minutes for each battle looking up both pokemon for anything special they could do during the fight, and I'm happy that you guys can notice that :). Oh, don't worry, Lavender Town will be in this story, though not quite the one you remember.

Thanks for reminding me! Thank you for the review!

 **So yeah! Should I capitalize the pokemon names, what should happen next, and who are the tournament trainers?**

 **Anyway! Please read and review!**

 **Frost OUT!**


	6. Rock Tunnel

Ash woke up in the morning pretty early on, his back promptly beginning to throb as soon as he came to wakefulness. He grimaced, shifting slightly. His shoulders pounded as he tried to move, fiercely strong and very annoying. It was for sure now - he was never sleeping on rock again if he could help it. This was the last day he'd be spending at Rock Tunnel and his back would gladly wave this place goodbye. He cursed not bringing a pad like Gary had brought.

Apep hissed, but slowly rose to attention. He was waking up earlier and earlier which meant Ash didn't have to spend nearly as much time trying to get him to start moving in the mornings.

Vulpix shook herself, breathing out a tongue of flame and glaring at the cold stone floor. It seeped into his bones despite the blankets beneath him.

With a concerned glance at Apep, Ash noticed that his scales were unnaturally cold, probably from the stone, though the temperature had dropped greatly overnight. He gestured toward Vulpix.

She narrowed her eyes in confusion, glancing between him and Apep, whose eyes were half lidded and his movements sluggish. After a moment, she got it, though she rolled her eyes heavily once she understood.

She sucked in an enormous breath, pointing her muzzle toward the sky. With a rumbled bark, she snapped out an absolutely enormous Flamethrower.

It sizzled in the air. Ash swatted away a falling ember before it could land on his leg, very conscious of the blistering heat crackling above him. Gary had most definitely seen the enormous wall of fire still spreading upward even as Vulpix shook herself, tails flexing behind her as she stepped closer.

But the Flamethrower had its purpose - by using that much fire power, she had decreased her inner flame slightly. Her fur was now only warm to the touch instead of burning, so Ash was able to gently get on his knees and pick up Apep, who barely stirred at the touch. He did not like cold in the slightest.

He wrapped the ekans around Vulpix, getting at least two coils around her midriff so he didn't have to worry about the snake slipping off. He placed his head against Vulpix's neck and his tail over her back, though she huffed angrily at him. She did not enjoy having a rather heavy snake wrapped around her, even though she knew it was for Apep's health. He was still far too much weight.

Ro was already awake and stretching, barbs extending from underneath his skin. They seemed to be longer than before, though Ash couldn't be sure. They glistened in the air before sliding smoothly back underneath his skin, locked in place until the nidoran was startled or needed them for battle.

Ash packed up their sleeping space, grumbling and holding his back like a ninety-year-old man. It still throbbed like no one's business, the unforgiving stone doing him no good.

But the blankets were wrapped up quickly and slipped back into his bag, and by that time Apep had begun to perk up, though he did not leave his warm place on Vulpix's back. He flicked his tongue out at her, golden eyes curious. He seemed very curious with her warmth, poking his nose into her fur and pressing his body against hers. She seemed to tolerate it well enough, though she struggled a bit with moving around the clearing.

By the time Ash had finished getting food out for everyone and getting his own ready to eat, Apep was fully awake and ready to move. The only problem was that he did not want to move off of Vulpix.

She fixed that problem by spitting a tongue of flame with in his face.

Hissing furiously, Apep finally slithered off of her with a final rattle of displeasure. He dug into his carnivorous meal, shooting her a dark glare. She paid absolutely no mind to him, digging neatly into her own food.

Ro, of course, ate his own food in his own peaceful little corner.

Ash joined him rather than join in the obvious tension on Apep's end, munching on his high protein bar and taking a swig of water. It, at least, had stayed cool overnight, though he was getting more and more used to having to drink lukewarm water. He couldn't wait to capture a water type pokemon and be able to drink whenever he wanted, as well as his pokemon. Streams were only going to become more and more rare the farther he went away from the coastline.

Vulpix glared at Apep as he spat a glob of poison on the ground in the form of Acid. It wasn't nearly perfected yet. He had the consistency - bubbling liquid that managed to hold its shape quite well - but he still wasn't very close to getting it to the brilliant orange it needed to be. His dark red was still an improvement from where it had been, though, and Apep was needing less and less time to charge it up to the point it was as toxic as it currently was. Maybe another week and he might learn it completely, though he didn't get to devote nearly as much time as he should with learning Payback. But TMs went quickly, and Apep would be able to learn both Payback and Protect probably by the time he got to Vermillion, and then he could go back to old moves.

.Ro yawned, showing off crisp white teeth. His ears flexed above his head, their enormous shape shaking themselves as they rotated above his head. He kicked his back legs a few times before standing up and at the ready, fixing bright crimson eyes on Ash. He was ready to go back into Rock Tunnel and start challenging some pokemon. Type advantage or not, he was going to win.

They all finished their various morning stretches, though Apep still seemed a bit too annoyed to fully flex out his tail. But Vulpix was ready and he took that as a good enough sign, slipping his bag back over his shoulder - grunting as it landed against his sore shoulders - and gestured for them to leave and try to find Gary again, though he'd still probably have to wake the boy up.

As it turned out, Gary was groggy but in the land of wakefulness. He glared spitefully at Ash as he turned the corner.

"Your damn Vulpix woke me up from a very pleasant dream," he grumbled as his pokemon finished eating. "Why in the world did you think you needed to shoot twenty feet of fire into the air?"

"Apep was too cold," he explained. "By having Vulpix shoot off so much heat, she was able to let him use her body heat without burning him, and anyways, she likes doing it. Fire type moves are her favourite."

Vulpix's grin and chuff of approval spoke enough. Gary directed his galre to her but eventually sighed and stretched his arms above his head, yawning mightily. "Alright. Let me get ready."

Gary changed quickly, Ash turning his back to be polite. Within a second they had gotten the food out for his pokemon and all six of them dug in happily, Wartortle tossing up pellets and catching them in his mouth. It was accuracy training as well as full, and Persian slunk below his feet, eating all of the pellets he dropped. The turtle pokemon made to kick her away, but her eyes glowed brightly and the kick bounced off of a curious shimmer in the air, stained a light green. It looked like a disturbance of air unless you truly focused on it, the normal type move able to defend against nearly every attack. It shattered as Wartortle kicked it a second time, but by then Persian had already darted away.

The mountain shined in front of them, light spilling over the distant trees to slam against the grey stone. It lit the mountain up, with reflective pieces of rock twinkling as they caught the light. The Rock Tunnel seemed to glow in the darkness of its opening, but for the most part the entire structure seemed to welcome the brilliant sunlight escaping over the horizon. Vulpix purred happily as the warmth hit her fur, the heat flickering out of her tails growing stronger. If he managed to teach her Sunny Day, there was no telling how destructive her fire powers could be. He remembered that Erika had many pokemon that liked to use Sunny Day and grinned darkly - he didn't doubt that Vulpix was going to wipe the floor with her team of pokemon, no matter how strong they were.

Gary grumbled once as he started to recall his pokemon, hesitating on Persian. After a second he slipped her pokeball back onto his belt without her in it, stroking between her ears and tapping her gem. "I'd like to have some pokemon who can use Protect if we run into something a little too strong, or if I run against a powerful enough pokemon. It would be far too easy for it to run away before I can get one of my pokemon out."

Ash nodded. He understood. "But why not keep Wartortle out? He's your starter and can really pack a punch against these ground types."

"True." Gary inclined his head a bit sharply, flexing his fingers into a fist and back, the joints popping. "But he's still adjusting to his new form and honestly, he's much more bulky now. Persian is only two feet at the shoulder right now and is on all fours. I trust her not to lose her balance over a stupid rock and knock herself out, not that any of my pokemon would ever do that."

He leveled a dark glare at the suitably embarrassed looking Wartortle. The pokemon looked like he would rather be anywhere else but here as Gary stared at him for a couple seconds longer.

Ash barely hid a snort in the palm of his hand. "Ah. Makes sense."

He clapped his hands against his thighs, Apep slithering a step closer to him and brushing against his leg, violet scales sliding over his skin. "Well then! Let's get going if we ever want to make it back to Cerulean before next week."

Gary grinned and poked his shoulder. "If anyone, it's going to be you to slow us down. I'm perfectly responsible."

Both chuckling, they turned back to the Rock Tunnel that gleamed overhead. Apep brushed against him again, staring up at him with narrowed golden eyes. He understood the message pretty quickly.

"Which one of you would like to stay out while we're in the tunnel?" He asked, grabbing onto his pokeballs as he stared at each of them.

Vulpix was the first to shake her head, the scar over her front foot shining. She didn't like the darkness of the tunnel nor the moisture they brought - she still remembered the agony that had spread through her entire body as the water droplets had splashed over her back. In a burst of scarlet, she disappeared.

Apep shot Ro such a vicious look that the nidoran startled back slightly before shaking his head as well, though Ash doubted Apep's threat had much to do with it. He didn't like stumbling over bumps and divets in the rocky ground when Ash didn't point the flashlight on the ground. Apep could take the stupid tunnel with his night eyes, he didn't even mind. He was sucked into his pokeball without a single complaint.

The ekans looked very smug as he poked Ash on the knee, sticking his tongue out and generally looking proud of himself. Ash snorted and flicked the top of his head. Apep hissed at his hand.

Gary raised an eyebrow. "Done chatting, or should I set up camp again and wait for you?"

Ash grinned. "Yeah, yeah. Let's go. Unless you want me to wait on you?"

Walking quickly, they made it up to the dark tunnel opening. Apep eyed it with flashing golden eyes, flickering his tongue out rapidly as he processed the new smells and body signatures in the tunnel. He was just beginning to sense a way as Persian stepped forward, gem flashing brilliantly. She looked back at Gary and shook her head, confirming the lack of pokemon close to the entrance.

Apep rattled his tail at her.

They walked in again, unclipping both of their flashlights and aiming them forward. Ash pointed his directly forward while Gary angled his toward the floor, trying to prevent trips as best they could.

Only fifteen minutes did Apep start to react, hissing excitedly and flicking his tail. Ash frowned, pausing to look down at him, but the snake stabbed his tail up and let out a high, chirping trill.

They both shined their flashlights up and found a colony of zubat.

The bat pokemon were all gathered up against the ceiling, claws hooked into the tiniest of holes in the rock. He could feel the temperature increase ever-so-slightly from all of the furred bodies in the small cavern, their breath stirring up the warm air as body heat danced around the room. It was hard to pick their purple-back bodies from the mass of shadows but once Gary got his beam pointed up as well, it made it much easier. It was a nice sized colony, about a hundred and some change, though only the first one he had laid eyes upon himself. There had probably been plenty in Mount Moon but he hadn't had his flashlight the first time and had been a bit too concentrated the second time to look anywhere but directly ahead.

He briefly considered catching one. Another poison type, sure, but he found he didn't mind the generally considered evil pokemon. Of course, there were always exceptions, but the stereotypes that plagued both poison and dark types were something he wanted to break down, at least for his pokemon.

But zubat were actually very difficult to train, and not because of their typing. As they lived most of their lives inside of a cave or a tunnel or some dark place, they found it incredibly difficult to see in sunlight. It burned their eyes and could cause some serious damage if their trainer ignored the obvious signs and kept them working out during the day. When they evolved into golbat their eyes were more adjusted, and by the time they made it to crobat they were basically like any other binaural pokemon. But there weren't any golbat or crobat he could see, and he wasn't going to lie - he didn't want to waste weeks and possibly months trying to help a zubat see during the day to battle if it wasn't he most battle ready, powerful zubat in this entire mountain.

He looked at Gary but the boy had already turned his flashlight away, gesturing for him to move on. "I've already got a zubat. No need to catch the hundred or so up there unless you want one."

Apep almost whined as they started to move away, still trilling his hunting call. Ash flicked his snout and the ekans grumbled before starting on the path once again, tail flicking against the ground.

They kept moving. Now that he knew what to look for, he could hear the chitter and movement of zubat colonies several times and in only another hour, they had found three more, though two of them were rather small. No signs of any golbat or crobat deep in the cave and so they left the bats alone, moving on quickly.

Every now and then, Persian's gem flashed to check on any incoming pokemon. After another twenty minutes of just a few paras staring at them from behind small boulders and cracks in the wall, Persian tensed and pointed forward. A low growl slipped from between her fangs.

Gary grinned and grabbed an empty pokeball off of his waist, keeping his flashlight pointed toward the ground. Ash did the same, narrowing his eyes to try and see better in the dim light. He nudged Apep, stopping the pokemon from shooting forward. By their unofficial law, Gary had spotted whatever pokemon was in front of them first, so he had the first right to catch it. Though it was technically Persian who had seen it, she would most likely just eat it instead of helping Gary if given the chance.

They crept forward very slowly, trying to avoid crunching their boots against the sand scattered over the path. Ash pointed his flashlight straight down, muffling the light with the edge of his shirt. The light was stained a light blue but it was even dimmer than before. Gary quickly copied him as they both moved forward.

Persian stayed back until she was level with Gary before moving, claws extended and fangs bared. She was ready to battle whatever was in front of them and she wasn't about to lose.

Apep hissed at her. Ash flicked his nose again.

As he moved forward, Ash could definitely hear something. The scritch-scratch of some sort of scales against the wall. It wasn't a geodude and it definitely wasn't a zubat, and paras never really came out of their cracks in the wall when there were trainers around. Persian had obviously thought it important enough to stop them all for. Maybe Gary had briefed her on the pokemon he wanted to catch?

Whatever it was, it was only a dozen feet in front of them. The scratching sounds had stopped so it definitely sensed them, but there weren't any sounds of it trying to flee. Gary moved forward another few feet and then flicked his flashlight up, letting the blue light shine over the pokemon.

It was small, about two feet tall at the top of its head. Mainly a light cream color, the edges of its blockish scales trimmed in darker tan. The stomach region was covered in an creamy off-white and its tiny pointed ears poked up from the back of its triangular head. A thin, stumpy tail flicked against the ground and wide, blue-black eyes stared at the oncoming pokemon.

A sandshrew.

They were normally timid creatures and this one was no different - its eyes flicked between all of them, lingering the longest on Persian who looked ready to tackle it right then and there. Its silver claws scratched again at the ground, carving up the dirt with a rather grating sound.

Gary waited a few moments, staring over the pokemon. Evidently, he found what he wanted. "Persian, Hypnosis!"

Her golden gem flashed once in the dark tunnel, her eyes glimmering a fierce blue. She narrowed her eyes, tensing her legs even as she took a step forward, making Sandshrew flinch and make eye contact.

That was it. Persian knocked the pokemon on its back within one heartbeat of eye contact, her incredible Hypnosis placing it down for the count. While Sandshrew might struggle slightly getting into the pokeball, there wasn't much of a chance that it would actually be able to break out.

Gary apparently thought the same thing, grabbing his pokeball and tossing it against the prone body. The golden scales lit up with scarlet as it folded in on itself and disappeared inside, landing softly on the floor.

The pokeball paused for a second before beginning to shake, trembling against the stone. Gary raised an eyebrow at the surprisingly large amount of fight for a pokemon that had been asleep only moments before but he still didn't look worried, crossing his arms and shifting his weight over to lean against the wall. As the ball continued to shake though, he frowned and nodded his head toward Persian, who grinned with wicked amount of teeth showing. She padded forward, pushing her nose against the pokeball.

A low growl dripped from her muzzle, chest rumbling with anger as she pushed out the furious sound. The pokeball stopped shaking for a moment, as if it could hear her, but Persian simply poked it with her nose once more and stood aggressively next to it, ready to react if the pokemon had the audacity to break out of where it belonged to be. Another growl rent through the air.

Sandshrew apparently gave up, and the pokeball stopped quivering before pinging happily.

Gary grinned and picked it up, only to frown in annoyance as the ball flashed once, the red surface gleaming a brilliant white. In only a couple of seconds it shrank, the bright button that could resize it fading to a light grey. He pressed it once, but it didn't budge in the slightest. It wasn't able to be used.

"Damn. I forgot I had caught six pokemon already. Well Ash, do whatever you need to do, because I need to head back to Cerulean quickly and get Sandshrew on my team. The amount of fight it had left it it was impressive," Gary told him quickly, clipping the pokeball to his belt and stroking Persian between the ears. She purred up at him, chest rumbling and tail flicking.

Apep looked putout. He hadn't gotten to battle yet and the last time he had tried to catch a pokemon, he had been knocked out in only a couple of hits. Yet here was this Persian not being hit once and managing to successfully catch a pokemon on the first throw! He had to get stronger.

Ash bobbed his head. "Sure. I haven't seen anything interesting yet and I think the man at the Pokecenter might be right about there not being anything good here - if I don't find anything worth catching in an hour and a half, we'll turn back around and start toward Cerulean, okay?"

Gary nodded back. "Sure. You can battle anything you want, but I'll hold you to that - an hour and a half and we start heading back. There really isn't much in these stupid tunnels, anyway."

Ash stared a bit pointedly at the pokeball on his waist, and Gary conceded defeat. "Okay fine, but I'd been looking for one of them for about two weeks. Sandslash are dead useful when trained right and I've been looking for a way to cover a few defenses that Wartortle has. And its ground typing will stop Surge once I finally get to him, and I'll definitely be able to train it up by that time."

He nodded. "Okay. I'll try to find another pokemon to catch. Maybe I'll battle a few to get my pokemon stronger - I seriously need to have someone evolve, and soon. You're crushing me on that side of things."

Gary grinned. "Damn straight I am. Not going to lie though - Ro is still in his youngest stage, so he's going to get close to evolution pretty soon. Apep might take longer. See, I lucked out. Both Persian and Weepinbell were just about to evolve when I caught them both, and Wartortle is a starter. They always evolve a bit earlier. You don't have to make this one a competition."

Ash nodded, touching the nidoran's pokeball. He hadn't handled an evolved pokemon before. It was said that their aggression often rose as well as their power and strength, which could be a bad combination as their pride could grow as they realized how powerful they were. Ro was pretty mellow already but there was no way to tell what would happen when the pokemon finally evolved.

"But just you wait - when Apep finally does evolve, I can't wait to see what he does to your Wartortle." Ash grinned.

Gary smirked back.

He checked his pokedex, noting the time as around ten-ish. He'd start to head back at 11:45, though he would try to wrangle a few more minutes from Gary if the boy didn't keep a diligent watch on the time.

He stroked Apep's head scales, letting the ekans rumble happily deep in his chest. Without a doubt, Apep was ready to battle any new pokemon he came across. While Ro might evolve if he battled with him, he really wasn't able to see well in the dark and the close quarters weren't the best battlefield for him.

Turning back to Gary, he spoke. "Okay. I'm ready."

And then they started to walk through the tunnel, pointing their flashlights back toward the ways they had before. Ash kept his eyes fixed in front of him, carefully trying to keep track of any sounds he could hear in the tunnel besides the scuff of his and Gary's boots against the ground and Apep's scales against stone. Persian kept flashing her gem, eyes glowing, though she never reported anything.

Eventually, Ash nearly stumbled over a geodude with an attitude. It glared up at him, pounding fists together. The stones over its body were well kept and rather smooth, and it glared at him with a practiced eye. It had had its fair share of battling before.

Ash didn't really want to catch it, but he was definitely up for a battle. Gary grinned behind him and pointed to the clock, but Ash didn't really care. He grinned and pointed toward the geodude. "Apep, Iron Tail!"

Over the course of about an hour and twenty minutes, he challenged every single pokemon he came across. Most of the geodude grinned and challenged him right back, and Apep managed to cream all of them with his Iron Tail and Poison Fang, though one geodude came pretty close to giving him a challenge.

Only one paras out of five actually battled against him, though that was mainly because it had actually been out on the ground when he had Apep knock it back with Poison Sting. The little paras had managed to hit Apep with several spores, including two Poison Powder that it didn't seem to realize wouldn't affect Apep in the slightest. But the snake had shaken off the Sleep Powder in anger and managed to keep on fighting, though his movements were sluggish and his eyes half closed.

He finished healing up Apep with two oran berries and a half a potion to his stomach, which had been hit by a nasty Rock Throw by the latest geodude he had challenged. The ekans hissed happily.

They kept moving, Apep still as raring to battle as ever. And with only seven minutes left on the clock before they turned back around, Persian suddenly tensed and pawed at the ground, angling her head in front of them.

Ash looked at Gary, but he just grinned and gestured on. "It's all yours, whatever it is. I asked Persian to keep an eye - or a psychic ability, whatever - out for sandshrew and machop, so enjoy your next battle."

Ash grinned and started to move forward, keeping Apep by his side. Keeping his flashlight low and muffled by his shirt, he stepped as softly as it could toward whatever was in front of them. He couldn't hear any sounds of scales or claws, but there was soft breathing a bit to his right.

Slowing down, he ground to a stop and carefully flicked his flashlight up to see whatever pokemon was over there.

It was about two and a half feet tall, its thick skin a pale shade of cyan blue. Despite being a pokemon, it looked surprisingly similar to a human with bipedal legs and two arms. Three ridges were on its face, a light grey that started a bit above its eyes and ended a little below its neck. Two almost gills were over its chest, three lines on each side beneath his shoulders.

A machop, one of the few fighting type pokemon in Kanto. He had done a bit of research on them and he glanced curiously at the gills over its chest. They were a trait designed to help the pokemon regain its breath as it fought with every last ounce of strength within its muscles in any fight. They connected directly to its lungs and let its heart be able to circulate about 50% more oxygen, allowing its muscles to grow extremely rapidly over the course of its time as a machop. Although being in a water battlefield was probably one of its worst nightmares, as they couldn't keep the water out of their gills and then lungs. By sucking in a deep breath they could survive a Water Gun to the chest, but anything more than that would seriously injure them to the point of knocking them out without even taking a hit from the other pokemon. As they evolved the gills moved to their arms, allowing them to block water slightly better than their hard-to-defend chest. Water was a serious problem for machop, though it didn't affect them as only a fighting type. It was only machop and that evolutionary line that did not enjoy that particular element used against them.

Ash shook his head and focused back on the present. If he wanted to put that knowledge to any use, he had to see whether this pokemon was worth catching. Apep, of course, was ready either way.

The machop blinked at him with wide crimson eyes, tilting its head to the side as it flexed its arms slightly, rotating its powerful shoulders. It looked comfortable with itself, much like the girl's primeape had. Fighting types seemed to have that kind of strong energy that didn't make them afraid of most things.

Ash stepped forward, and Machop's eyes instantly snapped toward him, head tilted. Knuckles cracked as the pokemon settled itself more comfortably on the ground, readying its stance for a fight.

He grinned. Well, he was definitely willing to recuperate if the pokemon wanted a fight.

Gary chuckled. "What, trying to become Leaf or something? Tell me if you ever decide to fight her."

Ash laughed. "As if I could survive that. Apep! Start things off with Acid!"

Apep reared back, throat working furiously. After only a few seconds he spat out a glob of dark red poison, sending it flying through the air. Machop grinned at the poison, dancing around the side with a leap that sent it flying nearly two feet. It landed easily on the side, immediately jumping back into the fray with its two fists glowing a light red, swirls of energy dancing around its fingers. Karate Chop.

The ekans didn't have to be told to dodge, his tail flashing a brilliant silver as he snapped it against the ground and fired himself forward. Apep leapt into the air and landed almost directly in the middle of the large blotch of bubbling poison.

"Use your tail, Apep! Fling the poison at it!" Ash called, grinning wildly. This was becoming a very interesting battle indeed, and he definitely wanted this pokemon. Machop were powerful when trained right and he knew that he would.

Flicking his tail rapidly, a dry rattle sounding around the stone cavern, Apep hissed angrily and flung thick globs of poison everywhere. Machop was still recovering from punching the wall where Apep had been and was struck by a hearty amount right over the back. It grunted, doubling over, but it quickly stood back up and lunge forward, feet glowing the same light red. There hadn't been a sign of it being poisoned.

Machop launched a Low Kick at Apep's side, scoring a glancing blow as the snake twisted to dodge. Apep hissed furiously and immediately flung himself forward, wrapping his head around the middle of the pokemon's chest. Within two seconds, he had Machop completely tied up with Wrap.

It grunted again, eyes narrowed. Fists glowing, it launched Karate Chop after Karate Chop at Apep but the snake merely tightened his grip more, squeezing the fight out of the pokemon until its attacks were gentle punches.

Machop grimaced tightly as Apep squeezed even more before throwing itself back at the wall.

Apep's head slammed into the stone and he fell down, dazed. He struggled with himself for a second, tail twitching, before he finally managed to wrench himself upright and turn to face Machop once again.

But the superpower pokemon was done playing. With a grimace of acute pain on its face, the fighting type blasted another Karate Chop at Apep's head. The second it connected, Machop switched weight and slammed its foot with Low Kick against Apep's already bruising side.

Apep actually bellowed as he was flung into the wall, picking himself up and immediately turning to face the pokemon. But Machop just glared darkly at him and smacked its fists again, turning and punching one of the walls as absolutely hard as it could, muscles straining as it forced its entire force behind it.

The walls shook slightly, a tremor spreading over the ground. Ash froze, too many memories flicking to the forefront of his mind. Apep paused, looking at the ground with a not inconsiderable amount of worry.

Machop growled happily, smacking its fists together once again. Its fists and feet glowed the light red, using two moves at the same time, which was incredible. The amount of time it must have spent training itself to be able to fight both other pokemon and then trainers on top of that-

The tunnel shook again, and Ash heard a distant roar. It was incredibly deep, much lower than Ro's. Whatever it was that had made the sound, it didn't sound even remotely close to happy.

Machop grinned almost darkly as it took a step backward, the fighting type energy dispersing from around its limbs. It flexed its arms, keeping its balance low to the ground as it shuffled backward.

Ash snapped his fingers as Apep, who peeled himself away from the wall and shook his head violently. He hissed and started to head toward the fighting type pokemon. Machop looked a bit frightened at the sheer fury in the snake's eyes, fangs glowing a brilliant purple with the power of Poison Fang.

But footsteps sounded around them, big, heavy footsteps. It felt like someone was banging a hammer onto the ground in time with his heartbeat, the sound shaking through his bones.

Something was coming.

Apep paused in his attack on Machop and looked around, flicking his tongue out curiously. Persian's gem glowed and she closed her eyes concentrating. Blue spilled from her eyelids.

She flinched wildly and slammed her head into Gary's legs, eyes wide. It only took him a second to understand the gist of what she was saying. He turned to Ash, fists tense and eyes narrowed.

"Ash, we have to leave. Now."

A machoke appeared around the corner.

It bellowed at them, standing a bit above Ash at five feet. Light blue and grey skin was stretched taut over bulging muscles, its biceps about the size of Ash's entire head. The ridges were more pronounced over its skull, sticking up like brown crests. The gills on its chest had migrated to its arms and were so large now that he could see bright red through them, an interior layer of skin that absorbed oxygen. There were black markings over its hips that looked surprisingly similar to shorts, and on top of that was a protrusion actually grown out of their skin - a fighting belt that held in their excess power so they didn't kill themselves with their own strength.

Slamming one fist on its chest, Machoke grunted at Machop. The pokemon nodded its head with a bit of sheepishness and scampered behind it, blue form disappearing into the dark of the tunnel. It was gone with no chance for Ash to catch it, but he had slightly more pressing issues at the moment.

Machoke glared at them with a steely scarlet eye, flexing its arms. They were normally rather modest pokemon who willing came out to help people who weren't even their trainers and had often been seen helping out in construction as they could easily lift immensely heavy weights that humans couldn't even hope to be able to lift. For the most part, they were left alone unless challenged or unless their-

Ash froze. He had challenged a machoke's kid. He knew the Machop had seemed young despite being well trained, and that meant it still had someone to teach it - so it probably hadn't reached the age where it could safely leave one of its parents and be able to defend itself in the wild.

Now that he knew this, he just had to convince Machoke that he didn't know the Machop was its. Carefully holding up his pokeball, he moved slowly as to try and not startle the still angry pokemon.

But Machoke obviously knew what a pokeball was, and it snarled and pounded its fists together as Ash held one up. He winced and quickly pressed the button, recalling Apep with a startled hiss.

Gary did the same at his furious gesture behind his back, though he looked very confused. Persian yowled as she disappeared, flexing claws and glaring at Machoke as she faded into crimson.

Machoke stared impassively at them as Ash clipped his pokeball back onto his waist, immediately letting his hands fall away from the capture devices. He raised his hands defensively in the motion of peace, speaking very softly. "I'm very sorry. I didn't know that was your kid. I promise I won't bother you or your family again, and both of us will leave as soon as we can."

Gary stiffened as he realized what they had done and nodded his head as well, eyes wide.

Machoke considered them for a moment before grunting again, muscles untensing. It settled into a more comfortable position, still ready to attack at the drop of a pin. Red eyes narrowed as it raised a hand and pointed it toward the way they had come, the message obvious.

Get out.

Ash quickly agreed and started to inch backward under Machoke's careful gaze and threatening muscles. Gary crept backward as well, keeping his flashlight aimed down. Eventually they got far enough back that all they could see was Machoke's crimson eyes flashing in the darkness, still narrowed in suspicion and anger. After a moment, they blinked and then were gone.

Breath hissed out from between his teeth and he shook his head, a chuckle building in the back of his throat. "You know, at this point, I'm thinking I shouldn't go through caves any more."

Gary snickered, eyes still wide. "Yeah. No kidding. That machoke could probably have flicked me unconscious with its pinkie figure and I'd be out for about twenty years. Did you see its muscles?"

Ash sighed in a bit of amazement. "I think we should probably listen. Anyway, I think my timer ran out already, unless you want to keep going deeper in. You can challenge the next pokemon, though."

They both chuckled and brought their flashlights up again, keeping their pokemon away. Ash didn't exactly trust Apep not to slither back there and finish what he started, maybe even trying to take out Machoke as well. The pokemon was probably angry enough to think he might actually win.

Gary kept Persian away because honestly, the cat had been a fair bit more scared than she had let on with her faux threatening attitude and claws and growls. Normal types were not very strong against fighting types, as they had lower muscle density and thin skin and couldn't handle the powerful physical moves. Elemental attacks they could shrug off much easier, as they were built to defend themselves from that, but fighting types were almost completely physical without any element, just sheer power from the punch or kick or throw. Even a snorlax would struggle against a powerful fighting type, like that Machoke back there. The fight would be incredible but unless the snorlax had learned enough other type attacks it would most likely lose, though not without leaving a mark to remember. There had been snorlax on hunger rages that had taken out several strong fighting types before finally passing out, as pain barely touched them in that state.

Retreating carefully, they walked the couple of hours needed in almost complete silence. There were few pokemon on the trail, perhaps because he had already challenged all the ones that had been there. Gary resolutely nudged a paras away from the path and didn't even try to battle it.

Eventually, the light in the farthest reach of their vision grew and grew until brilliant sunlight reached out and cradled their skin, making sure to take extra care to scorch their eyes. Ash groaned and covered them with his palm but it didn't do much against the blades of white-hot light stabbing into him. Gary wasn't much better, but he just growled and ducked into the shade behind a large boulder.

"That was intense," Ash finally said. Gary snorted next to him, leaning back and closing his eyes.

"Yeah, no kidding."

He took a swig of water, grabbing onto Apep's pokeball. "Well, we should probably start heading back. We've got a couple of hours of daylight left and I don't know about you, but I kind of want to be away from the mountain in case anyone decides to try and catch that Machop again."

Gary raised his eyebrows, leaning back against the boulder and staring up at the sunlight gleaming on the side of the mountain. If they move fast enough today and tomorrow, it would be late but they could get to Cerulean City if they only managed to keep their training to a minimum.

Though his legs wouldn't thank him - and neither would his pokemon - he'd be able to start his journey to Vermillion to tackle Surge all the sooner. The faster he went, the faster he would be able to make his way to Fuschia City and get himself a dratini to take down Lance with.

Gary nodded once and made to stand up, pressing his hands against the stone. He grimaced at some sort of pain in his wrist, rolling it slowly as he finished standing up and stretching.

Ash pulled out his pokeballs, idly contemplating calling out all of his pokemon to help them train. But he sighed and didn't do it, knowing he had to move fast. He only let out Vulpix in a flash of scarlet light, putting her on the ground in front of him ahead of a boulder. She didn't have the most endurance but she could move faster and easier with actually having long legs, as compared to Ro's stubby little things and enormous bulk or Apep's complete lack of legs at all.

Gary sent out Persian, wisely thinking the same thing as him. Vulpix gave Persian a gentle stink eye but didn't do anything about it, pressing against Ash's leg for a second before pulling away and yawning widely, shooting out a burst of flame that lasted for a few seconds before fading away.

Heat trickled into the air above her and Gary shot her an interested look as her tails flicked and the air wavered like a mirage. Her red fur was in need of a brushing again and he made sure to remember to do that this night before they went to bed. They'd probably travel until eight - which would suck - and then would stop training at about nine, giving them only a little to touch up on a few moves before going to sleep. He'd only spend time on speed today and tomorrow, as it really wasn't enough time to try to learn their TM moves well enough to get muhc progress.

Ro would complain but the speed runs were good for him and his battles. Apep would race to win and probably knock himself out trying to beat Ro. Vulpix would trot along dutifully until he bribed her with a good, long fur brushing that would have her nearly falling asleep on his lap.

The brushes were needed for her health, as tangled fur trapped more and more heat inside of them, which could seriously injure her with her two abilities. And Vulpix just liked having soft fur.

He frowned, thinking curiously. He hadn't tried to wash Vulpix yet - obviously - but how did she stay clean? He hadn't seen her groom herself at all, and he was able to keep a close eye on her for most of their training. His guess was that with her ability of Flame Body, she could burn the dirt and dust away. But in that case, she still would have to focus on burning her inner flame stronger, which would be a good control technique to both lower and raise it up to be stronger.

Gary gestured to him impatiently, starting on his path down the side of the mountain toward the route. It was still covered in thick heavy boulders, many that were taller than he was. It was still a while until the League came and cleaned in up again, but sometimes trainers would come by with powerful rock types that would crush the boulders in order to clean it up at least a little bit.

It still took him about twenty minutes to get down the path filled with boulders. Vulpix easily pranced down the stone, leaping lightly from stone to stone and quickly making her way down. At one point she nearly slipped, the stone rocking beneath her feet. She regained her balance the next second and glared at the rock, shooting an Ember onto it. The rock actually hissed when the fire made contact with it and Ash blinked - had she just used a fire strong enough to melt a tiny piece of rock?

As she moved on, he went and checked out the boulder. Indeed, there was a scorched divet in the stone, a small crevice with a few wisps of white smoke drifting up from it. There was heat warming his face as he got close.

She was definitely getting stronger, even though he was trying to get her to weaken her moves and control her inner flame. He grinned as he imagined her fighting against a grass type, bathing the field in flames.

Vulpix barked at him, startling him into moving down the mountain again. "Sorry girl," he called down to her. She turned her nose up at him and continued moving, tails flicking around to keep her balance.

Gary grumbled as they both reached the bottom. "We've got about six hours of traveling today and then a grand whopping total of around thirteen tomorrow. Next time Ash, you can go to a fancy place to catch pokemon by yourself. This is turning out to be a nightmare so far, even without the Machoke."

Ash raised an eyebrow, smirking. "Actually, you were the one catching pokemon. I was just tagging along for a ride."

Gary shook his head. "Yeah, but still. You didn't catch any sort of pokemon that could be immune to electric types and Surge is rumored to be up on the level of Sabrina and Koga - any plan for how you're going to beat him and win the badge? Are you absolutely sure you don't want to beat Erika first? Your vulpix could take out at least two of her pokemon, I'm guessing, and if you train her well enough to keep battling while she's poisoned then you have a pretty good chance of creaming most of her team with one pokemon and then sending in Apep to wipe out the rest."

"Yeah." Ash grinned as he imagined it. "Vulpix would crush them all. But I seriously do not want to fight Surge when I've got three badges. He'll start getting out those monsters you know he has - he fought in a war. So I'm going to play it pretty safe, and who knows - maybe I'll catch a pokemon in Saffron or on the way to Vermillion. Maybe not a ground type but I could possibly have luck on my side just once."

Gary scoffed. "As if. Well then, let's go to Cerulean and we'll make a better plan once we get there. Don't worry - if you decide to catch another pokemon, my team will still crush it like they did your current one."

He punched his shoulder, grinning. "You know what? Just for that, I'm going to catch a full grown gyarados and see how long your Wartortle lasts again a beast of legend. I'll even name it after you."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Gary snickered. "Who knows - maybe you will catch a ground type. Though Sandshrew is going to be better than it."

Friendly rivalry slowing dying down as they stared at the route that stood covered in trees in front of them, they shouldered their bags and began to walk forward. Vulpix yipped and dogged at his heels, flicking her tails against his leg when he nearly bumped into her. He scratched her ears for forgiveness, which she gave to him happily with a rumbling purr darting through the air.

The walk was longer and longer still at the almost brutal pace Gary forced them into. He wanted his Sandshrew, dammit, and Ash cursed him for his stubbornness every single step of the way. Trees passed quickly, their leaves flashing in the dying light of the sun as it sucked in one last breath and sunk below the horizon. But there was no need for flashlights - the moon shone like a star overhead, white surface marred with interspaced craters and random shadowed clouds.

As the clock clicked over to eight, Gary didn't stop. There was a sort of determination in his step and though he stumbled every now and then he kept the pace going, land falling away under their feet. Ash felt like groaning but he understood the reason for the hustle - if they didn't move fast, that could mean showing up at Cerulean City in the dead of night or spending another night on the road, which really sucked.

At a little past nine, Gary finally sucked in a deep breath and slowed to a halt. Persian shook herself, fur fluffing, before she sat down and began to preenly groom herself, one eye fixed on everyone else.

Ash pushed them all off of the route, finding a thin little clearing in the midst of short trees. They had made it to right on the edge of where the grassland and forest met, the trees young and weak and not great at breaking the wind but they still did their job, and the silver moonlight spilling over the golden grass was a beautiful sight for all to see. A wind rustled the grass, sending the hard tips to bounce amongst each other and create a gentle, haunting melody.

Vulpix chuffed a bit angrily at the ground, breathing out a tongue of flame and scorching the dirt to a rich black. She glared at it like it had wronged her family in an ancient debate spanning thousands of years.

Or perhaps he was reading a bi too far into it. That was made clear as she kept burning the ground, a few trickles of steam escaping upward as she evaporated every hint of water from the soil. Once she was satisfied, she stared down at it, quickly laid down, and promptly fell asleep.

Ash could relate as he dug out his bag. He kept his pokemon in their pokeballs as he was extremely lazy and did not want to deal with getting out Apep and convincing the snake that yes, he did good and no, he did not have to beat up Ro to prove that he could have definitely taken the Machop in a fight.

He laid out his blanket, flipping the edges over his body as he curled up in the middle. The ground was still a bit hard but it wasn't nearly as bad as the unforgiving mountain stone and he welcomed it gladly.

Gary hadn't even attempted to start training, much like him. They had greatly overestimating their stamina at the end of the night and the boy was already laying down, eyes closed.

To his surprise, Vulpix perked up as he laid down on the blanket. She trotted over, a ball of fire flickering between her fangs. Once she got close, she tilted her head back and barked, the sound escaping along with a brilliant wave of flames. Shaking herself as it to brush away the last embers, she trotted toward him and curled up right in his arms.

He blinked. The heat was warm but not overly so, and she seemed very pleased to just lay down with him. Normally she'd have her back against his side, muzzle carefully pointed away and never more than one side of contact but now she was tucked right in his center, his arms wrapped around her, though her tails were on top of his arms. She barked at him and he obeyed, tucking his arms around her and carefully slipping the fireproof blanket under her nose so she didn't have to worry.

Gary groaned on the other side of the clearing, putting his hands over his ears. Ash chuckled, and they both fell asleep.

He woke up in a bit of pain.

It didn't really hurt but he was pretty aware of it, something bright over his arms and curled around the edge of his elbow. He hissed as he shifted his arm ever-so-slightly, waking Vulpix up.

She blinked at him and then yawned rather cutely, sharp little fangs shining. The back of her throat gleamed a bright gold, a light shining from her mouth. It was her inner fire, or at least the closest he'd ever come to seeing it.

But as she moved, she flicked her tails away from his arm and stood up, shaking herself. He could finally see what hurt, and when he saw it he winced.

It was a burn, though a rather pathetic one. More like a sunburn in a strangely shaped blotch over his arm, the edges curled like Vulpix's tail. It didn't hurt, but it still kind of sucked to have gotten anything at all.

Vulpix sniffed at him, staring up at him with almost guilty looking eyes. He smiled and stroked her ears. "Not your fault, girl. I should have just put on sunscreen before. You don't have to worry about touching me, and it barely hurts at all." She purred as he stroked her ears, warming his hands in the process.

She was definitely a curious pokemon, there was no denying that. But he wouldn't want to have any other.

He packed up quickly, munching on a quick little snack and feeding his pokemon. Apep glared at him - rightfully so - the entire time as he ate but with a quick explanation, he at least focused his anger on the ground as he slammed an Iron Tail into the ground to destroy a small rock. It wasn't his best move but it was pretty high up there. He seemed to like using his tail, and Ash carefully made a note of that.

Ro ate quickly, shaking himself. There seemed to be more of a pep in his step as time went on and that was a good sign, as any extra energy Ro could get his claws on would be a terrific help.

Before the sun even started to rise, they set out on their journey. He did talk - pretty one sidedly - to Ro and said that when he started to get tired and slowed down, he'd recall him. It wasn't a threat or something against the pokemon but they wanted to get back to Cerulean as fast as they could. When he started toward Saffron, Ro would be out all the time in order to be able to train, he promised.

Ro accepted it and shook himself, stretching out his feet. A steely determination glinted in his crimson eyes.

Gary had Persian out as well as Fearow. The enormous bird flapped its wings and shrieked once as Gary gave him instructions to fly overhead them to get used to his new weight. There were a few careful reminders to stay with them and not get lost but the bird seemed to understand. With a caw, he crouched down and started to run a bit jerkily, eventually building up the speed to flap his wings and shoot into the air. Once he trained a bit more he could do it straight from the ground, but for now this was better than nothing. Work on flying first, taking off later.

The path started to light up after half an hour of walking and Vulpix immediately perked up as the warmth hit her fur, shaking herself with a pleased expression and barking at the welcoming sun. Apep moved faster too, the cold that had made him slightly sluggish disappearing.

Ro just lumbered on, eyes fixed on the road. He hadn't slowed down once so far, which was an incredible feat within itself.

They moved quickly, trying to focus on getting to Cerulean. Ash nearly had to pull Gary away from a curious little oddish that poked its head out onto the road, tilting large black eyes toward the two trainers. It squeaked as Vulpix met its gaze and ducked back under the cover of leaves.

The forest came back full force and once again they were drowned in a tidal storm of trees. More pokemon were readily apparent but neither of them stopped to battle the rather common pokemon that flitted around the branches and leaves on either side. Most were baby bug types and flying types, though several rattata glared at them from under protective bushes. None were worth catching, though Ash watched them all with a careful eye. He wanted to battle quite badly but Gary fixed him with a glare and he kept moving.

Trainers started to appear more and more down the road, and with a quick check to the pokedex he could see why. The League had stopped Agatha from going to Lavender Town because the ghosts had stopped attacking random passerbyers, though their numbers were still incredibly high. In fact, there were tons of ghosts from other nations that had been called by whatever energy had gone down there, and while the Pokemon Tower was still off limits for a couple of weeks for further check up, the town was at least welcome and accepting to trainers once again. Many people flooded toward the city hoping to catch a ghost pokemon, and the law would apparently crack down hard on anyone who tried to go inside of the Pokemon Tower. Several Ace trainers were positioned around its base and all known entrances, though none were inside.

Ash raised an eyebrow at Gary, a snarky comment on the tip of his tongue. But Gary just flicked his nose and danced away before he could retaliate. They laughed and chased each other, though quickly slowed to help out poor Ro, who was still valiantly struggling his way forward.

Feeding him two oran berries, Ash glared at the three he had remaining. It had been a stroke of luck to find the bush back when he started his journey but he didn't think he'd find any others, so that meant he had to by his own berries from now on. That was fine, though the money would start adding up. Maybe he could even get some of the other berries, ones with other effects or anything his pokemon really liked. Of course, it would always help if they weren't on such a time crutch and could stop to let him battle against the small army of trainers heading toward Lavender.

He hid his glare at Gary in looking at the trainer walking a little in front of them. A powerful mankey trotted dutifully at his heels, bouncing from foot to foot. It narrowed its eyes as Ash met its gaze but didn't do anything, cream fur rufflign in the gentle breeze. The trainer inclined his head, and Ash did it back.

Apep could have and would have creamed the little monkey. It might have been done in under five minutes!

But they kept moving. Another oran berry disappeared into Ro's mouth as they stopped around midday for lunch, eating just as quickly as they could before heading off onto the route. By the time the sun began to slip from the sky, Ro had well and fully slowed down at least twice, and Ash was forced to recall him with tons of words of encouragement. The nidoran had lasted for about eight hours going at a faster pace than he was used to, and that was incredible for anyone. Ro had looked a bit happier as he disappeared into the cloud of scarlet mist. Ash clipped his pokeball back on and kept walking down the route, eyeing Apep. The snake sped up, daring him to send him into his pokeball.

Ash didn't do it, but he was almost sorely tempted to just to see how Apep would react. He guessed badly.

Moving on was easy, though with the travel they had done yesterday his legs began to throb pretty early on. Gary was wincing as he stepped down and there was a curse bubbling behind his eyes.

Apep was fresh on the trail, having only gone through Rock Tunnel yesterday. He almost cheerfully kept ahead of them all, and Ash didn't have to give him a single oran berry for the entire journey. Every now and then he would look back to make sure they were still there, make smug eye contact with Persian, and then race forward so he was even more in front of her, rattle flicking.

The cat pokemon did not care in the least, and by the third time she stopped even looking. It felt a bit like a caterpie baiting a charizard.

Though his rattle was less hollow sounding, more smooth. The sound was softer as well, the rattle shrinking slightly. He hadn't noticed it at first, but when it finally hit him he couldn't help but grin widely. Ekans lost their rattles as they evolved, and for Apep's rattle to shrink made it clear - he was getting close to evolving.

Still a fair bit off, as his scales hadn't changed color in the slightest and he hadn't showed any signs of shedding, but it was a start. He didn't quite know what to do when his pokemon evolved but he was definitely looking forward to it.

Gary sighed unhappily as the sun crouched closer to the horizon, yellow eyes flashing over the trees and staining them golden. The sunset was close and after that, it would be a pain to travel any further, though they still would. It would be one of the literal worst things to sleep in the forest and have Cerulean only an hour's walk away with all of its healing Pokecenters and warm beds.

Ash grinned widely as something crunched under his foot. He stared down and saw a piece of stone, one that was smooth on one side. He kicked it and watched as it spun away into the woods, but he quickly fell upon another. Within a minutes, the shards had faded and left him with a paved road, the stones stained with brown dirt. But paved stones meant civilization, and that meant Cerulean.

And as they turned the final corner, Cerulean City gleamed in front of them.

Gary whooped and raced forward, Persian easily keeping up with him. Ash grinned and rushed to follow him, Vulpix barking once but running forward to stay by his side. Apep hissed and snapped in front of him.

He grabbed his pokeball, whistling shortly to get Apep's attention. The snake snapped to attention, fangs flickering purple with Poison Fang. Ash couldn't help the laugh that escaped this throat, and Apep glared darkly at him.

"Sorry, bud. But I want to get you in the Pokecenter overnight to make sure you're okay. You too, Vulpix."

She yipped at him, eyes narrowed. Fire burned on the edge of her tongue as she glared at him, tail flicking. Apep looked just as upset at him, golden eyes pining him to the route as he flicked his tail.

Ash would not be cowed, however. He knew that it was for their health. Holding up both of their pokeballs, he glared at them and slowly pressed the button. Vulpix whined as she disappeared while Apep hissed.

Gary raised an eyebrow as Ash trotted back toward him, clipping his pokeballs back to his belt. Persian was already gone, and he couldn't see Fearow flying up ahead. All six pokeballs were on his belt. "That's cute. You ready to go?"

Ash grinned and started running, ignoring his sore legs. Gary squeaked and ran after him, but Ash had the lead. Within only a few minutes, he burst through the glass door and darted toward Nurse Joy.

Gary appeared a second later, scowling fiercely. "That does not count. You started first and I wasn't prepared."

He laughed, grin still bubbling up on his lips. "Just admit it. I'm faster than you and I always have been."

The boy shook his head but a smile was on face. "I definitely won't admit the second part, but you did win this time. This time."

Nurse Joy smiled down at them, though she glared a bit at their boots, which had streaked dirt in a straight line toward the desk. Ash blushed and Gary ducked his head, but they both handed her their pokeballs. "Well, you two are certainly up late! Did you just finish traveling or battling?"

"Traveling. I think our pokemon should just be tired, but I'm not completely sure. Maybe a few bumps and scratches," Ash said, thinking back. Apep had gotten hit by the Machop but he had healed him up pretty quickly afterward. Vulpix and Ro had just been walking on the path and training lightly for the past couple of days. "The ekans might have a few bumps but I tried to heal them."

She nodded, turning to Gary. "And you, dear?"

"Same as him. None of my pokemon should be injured, though where is your pokemon transfer system?"

Nurse Joy pointed toward the row of video phones, and he thanked her and started toward them. There was a machine on the edge, not nearly as large as Bill's but still an impressive figure. He grabbed Zubat's pokeball off of his waist and held it in his hand as he push his pokedex into a slot meant to scan it for his Trainer ID. It beeped after a moment and he slipped the pokeball inside. A few presses of buttons and Sandshrew's pokeball unlocked, swelling back up to full size. He clipped it back to his belt, grinning.

Ash wandered toward him. He wanted to call a few people on the phones, not for the first time cursing himself for forgetting to call right when he got to Cerulean City. They probably wouldn't notice, right? He hoped at least, heading toward a video phone on the far right of the line.

Gary held out a hand and stopped him, a serious expression on his face. "Ash, I'm going to stay here for another couple of days."

Ash blinked. "Well, I didn't see that coming with the way you sped back toward here, but sure. I could always use some more training and it might be nice to have a water pokemon, not matter how much it wouldn't be able to hurt Surge that bad."

"No Ash, you're going to keep moving." Gary shook his head, a grin creeping onto his face. "I don't want to constantly stop you - that ruins the fun for when I cream you at battles if I already know your moves. Besides, the way you need to train is to get another pokemon - three is not going to get you to the League, not matter how strong your freaky vulpix is. Sorry about the Machop but you need to get something else that will help cream Surge. So go on, get training, and don't let me catch you near Lavender City."

Ash raised an eyebrow. "It's back to being open again."

"Doesn't matter. Wait at least a week so those ghost types can settle down. In the meantime, catch another fucking pokemon."

He laughed, holding up his hands in surrender. "Alright, alright! I'll catch another pokemon as soon as I can find one that will really challenge me. Unlike someone I know, I try to catch pokemon that actually want to fight me and my pokemon instead of every one on the side of the street."

Gary punched his shoulder. "I'll have you know, every single one of my pokemon - okay, except for Sandshrew - tried to fight me before being captured. That might have been after Wartortle blasted them with water, but hey. At least I'm still winning on having more for you. I bet by the time we battle again I'll reach my maximum while you still have your three, or four I guess because you are listening to my advice."

"What is your maximum?" Ash asked, head tilted. His was probably going to be smaller but it'd be nice to know.

"Twelve maximum. I don't want too many that I never get to train them all and I end up with two teams of weaklings but it lets me have enough variety to be able to tackle any gym or trainer I come across. What's yours? Three?"

He grinned. "Eight, actually. Any more than that and I'm going to end up with favourites, because you can be Apep will fight me every time I try to send him back to Oak's to grab another."

Gary nodded. "Okay, very true. Eight isn't that bad, but you do already have two poison types, and that doesn't leave a lot for everything else, That's like, what, one fourth of your team already?"

"Hey, Ro will be a ground type soon enough. I'm betting he'll evolve soon and then I just have to find a moonstone and he'll cream your little Fearow once and for all."

Gary grinned widely one more time and clapped him on the back. His face turned a bit sad, very uncharacteristic of him. "Well, I'll be going now. And by that I mean to bed. If you wake me tomorrow morning to say goodbye I am not against Persian putting you to sleep with Hypnosis."

Ash stiffened, but Gary didn't notice as he brought him in for a hug. He relaxed a second later and hugged him back. "Goodbye, Gar-bear. I'll cream you the next time we battle, just you wait."

"It'll be the day when you finally win, Ashy boy. I'll see you then."

They finished the hug and then Gary headed toward Nurse Joy, picking up a key and walking to the stairs. He waved goodbye and Gary did the same before disappearing up the stairs.

Ash grinned a bit sadly before turning to the video phones, sitting down at the closest one. He scanned his Trainer ID under the red light and listened as it beeping, saying his name in a monotone voice. Dialing in his house's number, he leaned forward on his arms and listened to the ringtone.

It rang all the way through, ending on a robotic woman's voice asking for a voicemail. He clicked no and redialed again, letting it run all the way through a second time. And then a third. Then a fourth.

A glance at the clock told him all he needed to know. His mom worked at Oak's pretty late into eh night and fell asleep only a little after if he wasn't home to entertain her with millions of stories. At ten, she would probably have been asleep for about an hour at this point, and wouldn't wake up for anything.

He clicked voicemail and watched as the screen faded into a picture of his face, the red light of recording beeping as the sign of recording. He blushed as his dirty, grimy face appeared on the screen, a countdown from five appearing in the top right corner. Readying himself, he pulled off the best smile he could.

It clicked down to one.

"Hey, Mom." He brushed down on his shirt, grinning. "I made it to Cerulean City! It's really pretty here, and I managed to beat Misty! She had this killer Seaking but I managed to take it down with Apep."

"I caught Vulpix, too. She's really awesome! She's missing three tails which messes up her inner flame a lot. Water is really bad but her fire attacks are incredible- and you probably already know more than me." He scratched the back of his neck, a bit sheepish. "I keep forgetting you know more about pokemon than me. Uh- don't take that wrogn! You're really smart."

"I found her in Mount Moon. I asked Oak to tell you about that, and I don't know what to say, Mom. But I'm okay now, not injured in the slightest. You don't have to worry about me messing anything up like that again. My pokemon are fine and so am I. Everything is great so far!"

"I even met up with Gary! He beat me for the second time but Apep is going to cream Wartortle next time we battle, I know it. Ro is getting pretty strong too, I think he might evolve soon. He's been acting kinda strange but it isn't in a bad way or anything, he's just got more energy. Vulpix completely destroyed Persian! It was the best thing to watch and Gary definitely didn't see it coming. Just a wall of fire went woosh and Persian managed to score some hits but Vulpix was great!"

"I'm heading to Saffron next, I swear I'll call you as soon as I get there. I'd really like another pokemon to catch but I don't quite know what I want yet. Or what I can find. I nearly had a machop in the Rock Tunnel but it managed to get away. Next time, maybe. I don't know. Whatever happens."

He leaned forward. "I really miss you Mom, and I promise I'll call you more often. I guess I'll see you next time?"

Clicking off, he sighed and leaned back in his chair. He really wanted his Mom to pick up. It had been almost two weeks since he'd last heard her voice and that was much longer than he'd ever done before. Crazy, really.

He nearly stood up before freezing again. Brock was still back in Pewter, probably sleeping. No need to call him at this late an hour but the gym leader probably wanted to hear how Vulpix was safe and sound, though a bit injured.

Sitting back down, he pulled up contacts. There was an option to chat on Brock's page and he clicked it. A keyboard slid out from underneath the screen and he started to type away, thinking quickly.

Hey Brock!

I got Vulpix. She's doing fine, and she's really sweet. Three of her tails were cut off but I talked with Professor Oak and went up to Bill's house and she's going to be fine, though water can seriously hurt her. You should see how powerful her fire type moves are! They completely destroy her enemies.

I'm fine, though, and about to head to Saffron City. Ro still misses you and your scratches.

Ash

He clicked send and then finally stood up, pulling out his pokedex to log out. The screen faded back to black and the soft humming went away, shutting it off completely. Stretching his sore arms, he headed back toward Nurse Joy.

"Can I have a room for tonight?" He asked, setting his hands on the desk as he got close enough.

She smile at him. "Of course, dear. Your pokemon will be done in the morning. I assume you're only staying for one night, then?"

He nodded, taking the thin key he got from her. "Thanks, Nurse Joy."

The room was still small but the mattress was infinitely softer than the cold stone. He snuggled into his blanket but it felt strange without Apep on his chest and Vulpix by his side and Ro slumbering away on the ground. He laid there for a long time, staring up at blank white tiles before finally falling asleep.

The next morning dawned bright and early and he was downstairs eating breakfast and getting his pokemon before his mind even fully woke up. All of them were clipped to his belt as he finished off the last of his berries and stared up at Gary's room, eyes narrowed. Despite the threat, he almost wanted to wake Gary up just to see what would happen. Blue eyes flashed through his mind and he decided not to, standing fully up and stretching. Nurse Joy waved goodbye to him as he stepped through the door.

It was easy to find the route once again, and a cheerful sign declaring Route 5 was ahead. Flicking his pokedex, he looked for what was on Route 5. But before he could get to it, Apep's screen popped up. He scanned it quickly, noting that there weren't any new facts. But under his moveset was listed on his known moves was Payback.

"Yes!" Ash cheered, quickly flipping over to Vulpix. She had the same thing listed on hers, though Ro still didn't have Ice Beam quite mastered yet. But he was getting close, and Ash believed in the nidoran. If anyone was going to learn an incredibly complicated ice type move, it was Ro.

Route 5 was long, though not undoable. It'd take him a while to get to Saffron, which meant plenty of time to train up his pokemon to challenge Surge as well as find a new pokemon. He didn't know what type of pokemon would be around there, but he guessed that there would be more water types along the coast. Route 5 wasn't directly against the ocean, but there were several stops about a day or two in where the sea pressed against the route and attract a ton of pokemon. Even Cerulean didn't have the water type pokemon that Route 5 and 6 did, and that was probably what he was going to find the most of. Weak or not against electric, Surge would probably only battle with two, maybe three since he only had two badges, so he wouldn't even have to worry about his pokemon getting too hurt in the gym battle. There wasn't barely any knowledge about Surge's pokemon online and it was generally accepted that Surge deleted the stuff to be more of a surprise.

He stepped onto the route, which went straight from stone paved to hard packed dirt in two steps. They didn't nearly the same amount of money on the route because of the destruction that water caused on the stones.

About five minutes, he released all of his pokemon. Apep stretched across the dirt path, hissing happily as warmth soaked through his scales. Ro snorted at the ground and scratched at it, but he seemed happy to be back on the road. Vulpix yipped up at him, still a bit miffed, but he scratched her ears and she calmed down.

Route 5 was long, and he knew it. It would probably be about a week or more before he got to Saffron City and then another week on top of that to get to Vermillion, and if he spent a ton of time training and battling - which he would, he'd been neglecting his pokemon in that aspect and money was becoming a bit tight - then he could maybe even add on another week onto that total. Plenty of time to catch another pokemon, maybe even one he could use against Surge. As much as he liked Gary, he was almost glad the boy had decided to let him travel on his own. He needed to his pokemon stronger and focus more on them instead of diving his attention to Gary as well.

"Okay, gang. We're going to be traveling for a pretty long while, and during that time, I want to train you guys as much as possible. If I can, you will be knocked out at the end of every day. We need to get stronger in order to beat Surge - he's a serious problem for trainers but I believe in you guys. We can do this."

Vulpix looked a little apprehensive about being knocked out but she barked at him, narrowing her arms and letting a little fire escape her mouth. She was ready to train, and it was time Apep got knocked down a peg. She didn't actively dislike him but the point was that he was getting too cocky. Jerking her head toward Apep, she barked again and shifted into her battle position.

Ash blinked but grinned at Apep's absolutely furious expression. "Not yet, you guys. I'll tell you what we'll do for training a bit later, but I'm okay with a few spars between you guys. It'll be good practice and once we get a new pokemon, all of you can have someone to face against."

Vulpix yipped affirmatively, looking back at Apep. Ro didn't pay any attention to them, tensing his body to get ready for the route. Ash quickly added Focus Energy to the list of moves he wanted to teach Ro - the move might help him be able to keep his endurance while traveling down the route.

With that thought, he started walking.

Route 5 was almost a carbon copy of all of the other routes he had traveled on. Heavy forest on both sides, though after the first day that began to fade slightly. He knew for the second and third day he'd be pretty close to the ocean, and this was one of the few routes that got close enough to it to catch pokemon.

But there were finally trainers down the route, as he was finding out. One the first day, he battled five, two in a row. Though he had to heal his pokemon up after their battles, they hadn't lost so far. He even set Ro ot against a kadabra and cheered him on as the pokemon won against his type disadvantage. The girl had looked a bit miffed but had handed over some of her money, which he had happily taken.

The greatest prize came from two hours before he'd stop traveling on his first day, when he ran into a girl with an enormous nidorina lumbering behind her.

"Excuse me?" He almost squeaked, stopping next to her. She peered up at him with bright brown eyes, head tilted. Her nidorina stopped as well, grumbling at the stop of movement.

"Yes? How may I help you?" Her voice was pleasant, a bit of an accent adding a lilt on the end of her sentences.

"Well, I have a nidoran." He gestured to Ro, who blinked crimson eyes up at her. "And I know he might evolve soon, and I was hoping you could tell me a bit about what happened when your nidoran evolved?"

Her expression cleared. "Oh! Sure. I caught her only about two months ago and she evolved maybe two weeks ago. There aren't a lot of signs for nidoran evolving, as their next form isn't really that different. For male nidoran, you'll see their spikes grow, like, a lot. I can see some spines on his back but those are just genetic - watch for the ones growing over his legs and sides. His ears will grow a bit sharper, and I'm guessing his horn will expand as well. They don't get a lot of evolution aggression, at least for their second evolution, but his energy might increase as well as his battle drive. Honestly, just train him hard and then get him in difficult battles. That really gets him strong enough to evolve, and he'll probably need a couple of days getting used to his new weight as soon as he evolves, though it shouldn't be too bad as they're still on all fours. Just remember to not battle him immediately after unless he evolves in battle, in which case finish it up fast and let him adjust to his new power. And seriously, do not challenge anything he's very weak to immediately after. It can cause a few problems and decrease their defense even more."

He grinned at her widely. "Thank you so much! I really didn't have much of a clue when it comes to him."

She laughed. "Well, I'm glad to help. He looks like quite the specimen and I'm sure he'll be a very strong battler once he evolves."

They parted ways, though not battling. She seemed just a bit too strong for him, if the steel in the way she carried herself spoke of anything.

That night, as he trained his pokemon on their TM moves one last time before his plan to move on, he could see what she was talking about. Ro's ears were extending backward farther, their edges sharper than before. He had swelled slightly in size, though not much, and strange ridges were protruding over his skin on the side of his body. Ro had peered over them with not a small amount of confusion before Ash explained, and then he had looked very excited, throwing himself into training even harder.

Apep was very miffed.

Vulpix peered curiously, sniffing at the spikes beginning their growth over his sides. He carefully kept his barbs retracted as she explored, his crimson eyes narrowed. Ash pulled up a picture of a nidorino and though there was a flash of recognition, probably from his own parents, he still took a step forward and stared over what he would evolve into. Nidorino were powerful creatures that could both pack and take a punch, though they were even slower. Ash would have to fit in as many speeding exercises as he possibly could. Maybe, after he finished learning Ice Beam, he could start on Drill Run, which was a ground type move. It was a bit early but learning ground type moves could learn him to adjust to becoming a nidoking and changing his typing.

But that was for the future, and for right now, Ro fired Ice Beam after Ice Beam at a poor tree while Apep and Vulpix grunted as he hit them with powerful attacks, slamming Payback at the ground. They hadn't quite perfected it yet, but once he started to battle them in actual battles, they would experience how to do it better and it would come more naturally.

For tonight, however, he just laid down with his pokemon and stared at the stars.

Ash yawned, stretching his arms above his head. It had been a long day on the trail today and the only interruptions had been three trainers he'd battled with a weepinbell, a marowak, and an araidos. They had been good battles and the marowak had nearly beaten Ro, but the nidoran had landed a good hit a bit early where his barbs had poisoned the pokemon enough that its reflectives had gone down to where Ro could knock him out. The trainer had taken it nicely and congratulated warmly, giving him a rather impressive wad of cash. He had needed money and these two routes were going to get him plenty of cash to be able to buy better things for his pokemon.

The ocean glimmered next to him, gentle blue waves creeping up the sand before scurrying away. Vulpix had been recalled once he got close enough to it. This was the part of the route that was the closest to the sea, though it was only about thirty minutes in before the water retreated back into the distance. They had called it a manmade bay, one to attract deep ocean pokemon.

The League had just recovered from a crisis - three beginning trainers went out on a ship they had labeled as safe in order to catch deep water pokemon, but the had been a freak storm. In their efforts to catch a staryu, their boat had crashed and they had been plunged deep into the water below. The League had some serious bad credit after that and it was easy to see why - not matter how safe they made the boats, deep ocean pokemon were too strong to easily catch on a tiny boat in the middle of the sea.

So instead, they went along Route 5 and dug a trench.

It had taken about a year to get it perfectly adjusted and ready for pokemon, digging it nearly a mile deep, though the part closest to the road was relatively flat before sloping violently down in order to have a minor form of safety. Because of the way they had designed the bay, it was mainly cold water except for a warm current that attracted deep ocean pokemon. The water bounced off of the walls of the bay and warmed themselves in the sun before being forced down and pushed out to see, creating a perfect current for water pokemon to follow. People had caught lots of pokemon not normally found around the coastline here as well as even pokemon from other regions. Water and flying types were often found in other places as they didn't need to travel by foot over the ground, where it was the most dangerous. Although Johto pokemon freely walked over into Kanto.

He walked for a bit more, stroking Apep's head as the snake hissed at a pidgey that swooped overhead, singing a warm welcome to the world even as the sun sunk lower to the ground.

As he walked on, he managed to catch sight of what he had been looking for - a peninsula that stretched deep into the bay. It was the way trainers could catch the pokemon hiding in the middle of the bay without having to rent a paddleboat of some sort, though it didn't reach all the way to the middle.

He turned off the path and started to walk up the peninsula. There weren't any other trainers as it was so late and he himself was probably only going to spend about an hour here before finding a place to sleep in near the route before coming right back the next day. He might not catch anything here but deep ocean pokemon had to be strong to survive, and he'd gladly battle any that came up on his hook.

The peninsula was long and rather narrow, though still plenty wide for him and his pokemon to walk along. It curved slightly to direct water properly before straightening out in the final stretch, and as he reached the edge he could see someone had brought a rather smooth rock to sit on right on the edge, just close enough to get a line in the water without having to stand for a couple of hours. It was very thoughtful and the edges were well-worn from use, and someone had even carved Red on the very bottom in some sort of knife, though the handwriting was pretty messy.

Pulling off his bag, he pulled out his fishing pole. It was literately one of the cheapest on the market but he hadn't had a lot of money on him when he bought it. It was made of breakable materials advertised as 'light and inexpensive!' but the basic need was what he needed. He could even separate it into multiple pieces in order to store it easier, which his bag had a special pocket that all of the pieces fit neatly into. Attaching the pieces where they needed to be, he untwined the line and made sure the hook was on properly. It definitely wouldn't hold up if anything stronger than a seaking grabbed a hold of the hook, but that was fine. If he managed to get a hook on the pokemon and make it angry enough to come to the surface, he could still catch it. And if it did stay on the hook, well, the battle only got easier from there as the pokemon couldn't try to escape.

Apep curled up next to him, flicking his tongue at the water. It was clear but he could feel the chill off of it, the deep ocean temperatures cold enough to raise goosebumps on his arms. Warm, coastal pokemon couldn't be really found here, but there were other places for them. He wanted the monsters from the deep sea.

If he could catch one. That was always an if. But it was getting close to night, where most of the predators came out, so he had a chance, if not better. Attaching a pellet of pokemon food on the end - ignoring Apep's sad expression - he threw the line into the the water and watched as the bobber landed about twenty feet from him. Just in the middle of the bay. He set the pole on his legs, making sure to keep a tight hold on it, and got ready.

It might be fifteen minutes to an hour until he got a bite, but water pokemon were pretty good at taking food. At least, he had heard. Settling back, he put a hand on Ro's head and watched the water.

Time passed horrifically slowly. Apep began to doze off, twitching in his sleep and letting off little hisses as he fought an imaginary pokemon. Ro peered down at him, a bit smug as he stood tall next to Ash. He was short, but Ash had noticed his back spikes had pushed his height up even more. It wouldn't be long until he evolved, which was why Ash was still fishing. If anyone was going to battle a water type and evolve, he wanted it to be Ro. Evolving tonight or tomorrow meant plenty of time for him to get used to his new form by the time he challenged Surge.

The bobber floated peacefully on the surface of the water. He had seen rapid ripples a little bit away and two red eyes peer at him from the depth, but the pokemon hadn't gotten close to his line and there was no way he could send Ro out to swim and try and catch it. That would be seriously bad.

But the time was nice to think. He had done a bit of research and while Lavender Town was open, people were incredibly curious about the strangely defensive ghost types popping up in all nearby areas. About half were from Kanto but those from other regions appeared just as quickly, drawn by some sort of energy he and other trainers couldn't sense. It was a bit chilling and the hairs on his arms stood up just by thinking about it, though he did feel a shiver race down his back.

He would probably head there after going to Fuschia City before he attempted challenging Sabrina and Blaine. The fight that ghost type pokemon could put up was pretty well known and they had a way of using tricky methods that people didn't see coming.

A ripple snaked over the bay.

He tensed, staring at his bobber. The pole bounced once in his hand, not so much of a bite as a nibble. Something was playing with the end of his pole, the line snapping from taut to loose in a matter of seconds. It shifted slightly in its position, inching a bit to the right and then forward. But he didn't think the pokemon knew about the hook, it was curious by the food in eh water. At least, that was what he was guessing. The bobber dipped below the water once again.

Tensing his hands on the pole - oh, why did he get such a cheap one? It felt like it was about to break beneath his fingers! - Ash leaned over and nudged Ro with his foot. The nidoran jerked to attention, turning his head this way and that. He eventually stopped and looked up at Ash, rumbling softly.

"There's something on the line," he whispered back. Apep stirred at the sound of his voice, perking up and staring at the water. His tail flicked idly as he narrowed his golden eyes, concentrating.

He gently moved his pole back and forth, making it seem more like living prey. There was a chance that the pokemon in the water was a predator, which would have it much more interested in the moving food.

And it was. After a couple seconds of pause, something latched onto the hook and yanked.

The pole immediately bent in his arms, the plastic groaning beneath his hands. He grappled for a hold, digging his feet into the ground and bucking backward to get a steady grip on the ground. The pokemon paused in its downward decent, tugging curiously. He kept the pole still before jerking wildly up.

Tension disappeared and he could begin to reel in, eyes wide. Foot after foot disappeared into the fishing pole as he wildly pulled up the pokemon attached to his line. But then another jerk nearly pulled him into the water.

He reared up and yanked. The line went taut again, trembling. It shifted slightly in the water, the line swirling around in a midst of tiny waves. He stared at him, very consciously aware of the empty pokeball on his waist. As soon as he got the pokemon on the ground he'd set Ro on it and capture it as soon-

The line snapped.

He stared at it as the clear string flopped on the surface of the water, the edge snipped cleanly off. Unless the pokemon down there had swords for hands, the teeth that had bitten it had definitely been a predator's. The clean cut spoke of razor sharp fangs with impressive jaw strength. But it was gone.

His eyes narrowed, and he reached behind him for the pokemon food. If he could attract the pokemon to the surface, Ro or Apep would nail it was some sort of attack that would make it too weak to be able to resist his pokeball-

The water rippled.

He froze, watching as a fluttering shape appeared below where his line had been. There wasn't much to make out, the shape strangely translucent in the water and the gentle ripples not making it any easier. But whatever it was, it was rising towards the surface and heading toward him.

Apep got ready, baring his fangs and rattling softly. Ro grunted, his barbs snapping out of his skin with a low popping sound and his horn weeping clear poison. They were both watching the water with narrowed eyes, bodies tensed and ready for battle. Ash gently set the fishing pole down and unclipped the pokeball from his belt.

Slowly, the pokemon poked its head from the water about seven feet from the shore. He still couldn't see much of it, but the second it touched the air, he could see it more clearly, its body becoming more visible.

It was a light pink color, which didn't make sense at all because he had barely been able to see it in the blue water. It should have stuck out like a sore thumb, but it didn't. The top of its head was covered in a lighter blotch topped with a tuft of skin, its head nearly perfectly circular. Two bright red eyes - the eyes he had seen before, he recognized - with dark blue pupils stared up at him, framed by water droplets that were quickly absorbed into its skin and a small mouth lined with sharp teeth shaped like a sharks'.

He frowned at it. It was no pokemon he recognized, and he had at least a basic mental picture of all Kanto pokemon.

Apep hissed at the pokemon. Its attention immediately snapped to him, red eyes flying open wide. A disturbingly human-like giggle chirped from its mouth, the sound high and delighted.

He did not like it one bit. But the pokemon, whatever it was, definitely seemed strong in order to snap his line and then come to the surface to investigate him without, seemingly, any fear. "Ro, Poison Sting. Apep, same thing. Try to stop it from getting back in the water if you can manage."

Ro reared back, poison building in the back of his throat, when the pokemon finally burst from the bottom of the water.

It had a thin body with three tentacles flared out on the bottom, all varying shades of pink. Two vaguely arm-ish things gently hovered in the air next to it, the edges tinged purple. Around its neck was a white collar, seemingly fluffed and not looking wet in the slightest. It grinned at him, letting loose a bubbling sound like a creek going over rocks.

His pokemon fired thin needles of poison at it, streaking through the air. It hissed at them, tentacles slapping the water as it floated higher to avoid Apep's Poison Stings. But Ro's flew more true and two smacked onto its chest.

It hissed again, the sound much more threatening than Apep's had ever been. Opening its mouth, it launched a thin stream of clear bubbles at Apep. The snake jerked back but they immediately exploded upon impact, bursting apart in pressurized blasts that injured him even more. It had to be Bubble Beam, a more powerful version of Bubble.

Ro grunted and readied himself, ignoring the blasts of water. He had frighteningly few long range attacks Ash realized, but he had at least a couple. "Ro! Use Ice Beam!" He called out.

The nidoran opened his mouth, and this time he didn't hold back. The ice type energy built hard and fast and within two seconds, it shot from his throat and blasted toward the pokemon.

It caterwauled as the move slammed into it, but the move didn't seem to do much damage. The few spreads of ice over its body quickly melted as they came in contact with the pokemon's water body. As it shook off the last ice crystals, it glared at Ro, much more pissed off than before.

Apep took that opportunity to nail the pokemon in the head with a bubbling mass of dark red Acid.

Hissing furiously, it turned on the snake. But Ash had seen it wince heavily as Acid melted into its body and broke past its defenses, weakening it greatly. The move wasn't Toxic but when used against a water pokemon, it did its job well. The pokemon looked absolutely furious.

Ro snapped another barrage of Poison Stings at it, a few landing on its lower tentacles. But Ash just gaped in surprise as it seemed to predict that, flipping over its tentacles so the Poison Stings would hit the underside, and then nothing happened.

It took him a moment, but he could see tiny needles over the surface tipped with bright purple. The pokemon naturally produced poison on its tentacles and so it was invulnerable on that spot as the needles simply absorbed the poison and stored it in their poison production pouches, but it could still be poisoned if he could hit it anywhere else on the body. "Keep up Acid and Poison Sting! Aim for the chest and head!"

Just as his pokemon began their attacks, the water type started to attack back. One of its tentacles began glowing a sickly grey, disguising the pink under a bubbling mess of shadows. It swiped it down, sending a writhing wave of energy to slam into Ro's back. The nidoran bellowed and shook it off, eyes narrowed.

Ash blinked. That was Night Shade, a ghost move. Okay, this pokemon had a few tricks up its sleeves.

It kept aiming at Ro, eyes narrowed. Another Bubble Beam shot toward Ro, but he took the chance to prepare and, with his horn glowing faintly white with Horn Attack, scattered the bubbles to explode harmlessly around him. He bellowed, barbs clicking and weeping clear poison.

The pokemon hissed at him, the sound slithering through the air. Then it floated gently forward, a grin on its face. Apep stiffened, fangs glowing a brilliant purple as the pokemon got closer to him, rattling his tail threateningly. It barely paid attention to that, its tentacles reaching up and getting closer to his body.

Ro reared back and blasted another Ice Beam at its side. The pokemon shrieked, high and furious, spinning to face him with narrowed red eyes. Without even looking, it reached out and nabbed the distracted Apep around his body.

The ekans shrieked furiously, bare fledglings of a hood flexing as he buried purple fangs in its chest. Ash was extremely perturbed as he watched his nose actually sink a little into its body, the gelatinous substance making up most of its body shifting.

Ash yelped as the pokemon rose into the air, wrapping its three bottoms tentacles tighter around Apep. The snake hissed but then the pokemon raised its tentacle arms, the underside gleaming a bright purple, and suctioned them on either side of Apep's head.

Nothing happened. It frowned, lifting its arms and trying again. Ash could see all the signs of poison being produced but Apep was a poison type - he couldn't become poisoned. And most wild pokemon didn't know that.

While it was distracted, he chucked the pokeball and nailed it right on the side of the head.

Apep fell with a thump to the ground, shaking his head and hissing at the red and white pokeball trembling on the ground. Ash immediately dove into his bag and pulled out another one of his pokeballs, clutching it tightly. And for good reason.

With a shriek of rage, the pokemon exploded back out of the pokeball. It swung this was and that, glaring angrily at them all. But he could see signs of exhaustion - its tentacles hung flat in the air and it was hovering closer to the ground than normal.

So he risked it and threw another pokeball.

As it landed on the ground, he lunged forward and grabbed the first pokeball, reading to throw it again. And he needed to.

With a burst of scarlet, the pokemon emerged again. It was promptly nailed by his third throw and sank back onto the ground.

This time, all the pokemon could manage was a couple of violent shakes that had him quickly grabbing the other pokeball once again. Apep glared at the ball and Ro grumbled, barbs extending farther.

But with one final twist as a last resort, the pokeball fell still and flashed once, announcing a capture with a happy click.

He sat back on the rock with a bit of a bemused expression, eyes wide. Whatever pokemon that had been, it had taken some pretty strong hits from a distance and he could tell that the second it got its tentacles on anything that wasn't a poison or steel type, the battle would quickly go downhill for his opponent. But he didn't think that it was a full water type, given by the way it had easily floated out of the water. The poliwag line was known for that as well but for magikarp, goldeen, and horsea, they mainly needed to be in some sort of water to fight, though they could survive on land reasonably way. Once they evolved it got better, so maybe this pokemon was an evolved something or other. Whatever it was, he had managed to capture it.

He had a new pokemon.

Leaning down, he stroked Apep and Ro's heads. "You guys did great. I'm really sorry Apep, I didn't want you to get captured like that, but at least we caught it. That pokemon will be joining our team soon, though I'll probably focus on it more tomorrow while we're in the daylight."

Apep hissed as he announced his plan, and Ash nearly chuckled as he realized Apep might have another bone to pick with a pokemon of his. But now, he was going to focus on more important things. Namely the fact that he had no idea what this pokemon was and also the fact he didn't really want to just stand near the water's edge when one of those vicious pokemon had already attacked him.

He grabbed his fishing pole, bemoaning the loss of the hook, and quickly dismantled it, sticking the pieces into a thin pocket in his bag. The opened bag of pokemon food was tucked in as well and then he shrugged it over his shoulders, gesturing for his pokemon to follow. Apep looked a little tender around his sides and Ash realized that those tentacles must have been a lot stronger than he had first thought in order to so easily pick Apep up and restrain him in midair.

Reaching the route, he walked for a bit until he reached the edge of the forest. Walking a little ways until he was reasonably off of the path, he set his bag back down and readied his pokemon. He wouldn't release Vulpix yet until he was sure the water type pokemon wouldn't attack.

He arranged Apep and Ro until they were poised on either side of him, fencing the pokemon in a triangle shape. It would have to at least listen to him, and before he did that he pulled out his pokedex, holding the scanner over the pokeball. It clicked, humming quietly, though it took a much longer time before a screen popped up.

Frillish, the floating pokemon. Frillish live in the deep ocean, able to survive pitch black areas and incredibly pressurized sea conditions. It is strictly a carnivore and will paralyze its prey with poison before dragging them underwater.

This frillish is female with no held items. She knows the moves Bubble, Water Sport, Recover, Night Shade, and Bubble Beam. Her ability is Water Absorb, where water moves heals her.

With a little more research, he could see that this pokemon was found in Unova, an island found all the way across the sea. But water types often migrated as the seasons changed, coming and going from their original homes. It wasn't that surprising to see it here, though he was still a bit stunned. He had not only managed to catch a fourth pokemon, but it was also part ghost type. They were a bit tricky to handle, which she had already shown in large quantities, but he knew he could handle her. The pokedex said a show of strength was the best way to gain their loyalty, which he was sure Ro and Apep had already shown her in plenty size.

He had a fourth pokemon. Gary could suck it!

But the frillish had probably been hunting when he had fought her, and so he'd have to make sure that she understood she couldn't attack any one of them before she joined his team. Giving careful looks to his pokemon, he tossed her pokeball against the ground, catching it quickly.

She appeared, floating above the earth with narrowed red eyes. Her gaze flicked to Apep, then Ro, and finally to him. She almost seemed to want to attack, baring her fangs, before her eyes made contact with the pokeball in his hands.

After a moment of fierce silence, she finally sagged in midair and flicked her eyes up to his. It seemed pretty fast that she accepted that she was captured, though there was definitely still steel within her gaze.

"Hello. My name is Ash, and I'm your new trainer, whether you like it or not. I can make you stronger. Your teammates" he gestured to Apep and Ro "-won't hurt you, we'll just help you get stronger."

She nodded at him, eyes still narrowed.

He grinned. This was going better than he had imagined. "Do you want a nickname? It's something different to call you."

Her gaze called him an idiot for explaining but she nodded her head again, tilting it to the side as her tentacles still sagged in midair.

He frowned, thinking. There hadn't exactly been any nicknames he'd planned, but the sheer anger and force she had showed brought one quickly to the front of his mind. "What do you think of Siren?"

The wicked grin told enough of her approval.

"Okay. We're going to see how strong you are tomorrow, but for tonight, we're just going to sleep. I'm going to recall you just for tonight, though you'll get to choose every night after this one."

She nodded again, eyeing him with a sudden darkness as she disappeared in a swirl of red. He frowned but clipped it back to his belt, grinning at his pokemon with excitement in his eyes.

"Another pokemon, guys! We'll start training her tomorrow and I promise Apep, I'll make sure I'll make you stronger than her, don't you worry. But for now, let's just sleep. I want to get an early start on tomorrow."

Ro nodded his head, retracting his barbs fully and stretching against the ground. Apep hissed at Siren's pokeball again but he settled with one glare from Ash. They were still pretty close to the ocean so he'd leave Vulpix in her pokeball tonight, at least until they got away from the very present moisture in the air.

Stretching out his blankets, he changed quickly under the cover of a tree. His belt was placed reverently on top of his bag, the two pokeballs of the rest of his team gleaming brightly on top.

His blankets were a bit cold but they were much better than the air as he curled up inside of them, tucking his cold palms into his pajama pockets and rolling into a tighter ball under the top cover.

Apep hissed at him and he begrudgingly straightened out again, letting the snake curl up over his chest. The ekans hissed happily as his scales soaked away heat from Ash's skin and he coiled up tightly, managing to fit his entire length into a ball only a foot in diameter. His tail stuck out the end and his head flopped over the top, nose pressed against his collarbone and tongue occasionally flicking against his neck. The snake's breath was warm and his scales shone in the moonlight.

Ro pressed against his feet, a solid presence that hadn't changed since every night that he'd slept with his pokemon. Barbs safely retracted and horn pointed away, he was just a comforting friend by his side.

The night was cool but he was fine with it, staring up at the skies. They were far enough away from the trees that nothing disturbed his vision straight up, stars glittering above his wide eyes.

Something rattled in the distance, but he didn't pay it any mind, slowly slipping off into the welcoming arms of sleep.

As he finally fell asleep, eyes fluttering closed, Siren's pokeball exploded.

* * *

 **Hey guys! I finally finished another chapter!**

 **Also, cliffhanger. I'm sorry. This chapter was already up to twenty thousand words - my longest ever! - and I didn't want to make it any longer. So you guys get to suffer a bit :D**

 **But yeah! A fair amount of stuff happened this chapter. Gary caught a sandshrew, Ash nearly caught a machop before Big Angry machoke came and scared them away. They split up in Cerulean and Ash went down toward Saffron alone, though definitely not challenging Sabrina yet. Also! Ro is going to evolve soon! I wonder when, though. It could be any time…**

 **Also, I gave Ash his ghost. I can say, I've never seen Frillish used, like, anywhere. I know it's from Unova but I hope i put enough thought into both the bay and migration. They're pretty awesome pokemon and seriously, read the Extended unova Pokedex entry on them. It's messed up.**

 **So I don't think Siren is going to take being captured all too well…**

 **But that's for the next chapter!**

 **He caught his fourth pokemon, a water type no less. I don't think Vulpix is going to be all too happy at that, and who knows? Maybe she'll get her own rival, because she seems to be getting a backbone recently. She's pretty fun to write, not going to lie. I'm trying not to make her too dainty and actually, she's going to be one of Ash's strongest pokemon through brute force despite being a tiny little vulpix.**

 **But yeah! I hope you guys enjoyed.**

 **Onto answering reviews!**

 **GUEST**

 **Just found the story the other day and really loving it. Ash's Pokemon all have their own personalities and I always find that the most important things in a Pokemon fic, can't really read ones where Ash has dozens of pokemon since there is never time to properly develop their relationships with Ash or each other.**

 **One thing I've noticed though is the nonverbal commands you had Ash working on seem to have completely disappeared, I was expecting him to use them in the battle with Gary and was wondering if you just changed your mind about using them or something.**

 **That's just one small thing though and looking forward to seeing what happens in rock tunnel as well as maybe Ro evolving since Ash is about as strong as Gary and Ro evolves at a lower level than Spearow. I know levels don't really matter since you're making the world more realistic but I'd assume they would still evolve about the same time.**

 **Thank you! I really try hard to make them all different and special in their own way and I'm really happy you like that. There was once a fic I read where Ash caught twelve pokemon before Pewter and I couldn't get any farther than that. There was no characterization of either Ash or his pokemon there.**

 **Oh, don't worry. The reason he didn't use them against Gary was because Wartortle evolved pretty quickly and he was a bit shocked. They're on of his trump cards and he won't just forget them that easily, though I'm still figuring out whether Ash's other pokemon will use it as well as Apep.**

 **I hope Rock Tunnel met your expectations! Ro didn't evolve, I'm sorry, but he'll get that done pretty quickly. I know spearow evolve lower than nidoran but I'm trying to make it seem like spearow are the type of pokemon to evolve faster. I kind of keep the basics of levels but personally, I think that pidgey, rattata, spearow, oddish, and bellsprout are the type of pokemon to evolve fast and then grow from there to survive in the wild. Ro will evolve later because he's getting stronger in this form.**

 **Thanks for the review! I hope I was able to answer your questions.**

 **MOKKEL**

 **ahh it's nice to see a Gary getting the spotlight. I always liked the competitiveness between the MC and rival depicted in any anime, and not just in pokemon. and you managed to capture it pretty well through your writing.**  
 **...though I was kinda sad to see how little significance Misty's character presented. eh it's not that big of a deal I guess!**

 **Thanks! Gary really needs some more appreciation in fics, even those like Traveler make a ten-year-old the spawn of satan. Thanks for the compliment!**

 **Oh, and don't worry. Misty isn't done in this story yet, I was just slipping her in as a beginning scene before she really makes her debut later on, in more important moments. Maybe you should remember what she was leaving to do… It might be important… Though I'm not saying anything ;)**

 **RIBANOID**

 **Amazing chapter I loved the interactions between Ash and Gary, they don't let their rivalry affect there friendship with each other but they also like to annoy each other. I also enjoy that whole TM exchange, can't give your rival a free advantage. I have some other comments and concerns with the chapter but I will PM those to you.**

 **Thanks! I always have liked the nicer interpretations of Ash and Gary and I'm really glad I was able to write one myself. And of course, annoying each other is what they're best at :D**

 **The TM exchange was something pretty cool, #shamelessbrag. I'm really glad you like it. Thanks for you little reminder of your PM and I promise I'll talk to you! Thanks for the review!**

 **So! I hope you guys really like Frillish, and Siren will definitely be fun to write. Please tell me of any ideas you have or your SS Anne tournament trainer OCs!**

 **Anyway! Please read and review!**

 **Frost OUT!**


	7. Thunder Badge

Ash jerked away, eyes fluttering as sleep fell away from his grasp.

There was a distinct human-like giggle and Apep was blasted off of his chest, the snake writhing in pain as an incredibly powerful Bubble Beam slammed into his side. He hissed furiously but flew true through the air, crashing against a tree trunk. Vulpix was still in her pokeball and he couldn't feel Ro anywhere. His eyes finally adjusted just as he saw shining crimson eyes staring at him only an inch from his face.

He squeaked and lunged out, swinging his arm around to hit the frillish. She bobbed out of the way, not taking her eyes off of him. Now he could see Ro, collapsed only a little ways away from him with dagger thin cuts over his side, probably from several Night Shades. How powerful was this pokemon?

Siren giggled again at him, tentacles waving slightly as she floated back down to him. He scrambled back, eyes flicking around. Her pokeball was broken in half from the sheer force of her exploding out of it, laying only a little ways away from him.

Something cold touched his side. He kicked against it, finally managing to make it to his feet. Floating a bit above the ground, she was easily taller than him, her pink form swaying gently in the air.

Apep stirred weakly, a bruise creeping up his side. There was no doubt in his mind that the snake would be up and attacking if he could, but Siren had nailed him right where it hurt and when he hadn't been expecting it. He was down for the count, at least for now. Ash tightened his fists.

Siren giggled again at him, grinning with her shark teeth. It was only a little in the night and the moon seemed to give her strength, her ghost typing coming out strong as she floated closer to him.

He took another step back. No plan yet, but she wasn't going to be able to attack his pokemon and get away with it. His eyes flicked toward his belt. If he could catch her again, he could give her to the police.

She tilted her head at him, bottom tentacles flicking. They stared at each other, eyes narrowed. He was most definitely scared of her, tentacles reaching out with the edges tinged a soft purple.

What did her pokedex entry say?

 _It is strictly a carnivore and will paralyze its prey with poison before dragging them underwater._

He and his pokemon might become her new prey. Not on his watch.

Siren peered at him as he crouched suddenly, hands searching over the ground while he never removed his eyes from hers. Within a heartbeat, he found something that might work - a thin stick, not any longer than his arm and a fair bit thinner. But so far, it was the best he had got so far.

She blinked at it as he stood back up, holding it threateningly in front of him. Tentacles flicking, she lunged forward.

He smacked away one of her arms and ducked under the other, dancing to the side to avoid her tentacles. She hissed darkly as the stick smacked into her arm but he was a human - there was no way he could have the sheer amount of strength needed in order to seriously injure a pokemon.

But he would try his hardest.

With a roar, he lunged forward first and slammed the stick down over her head. She shrieked as it crushed the tuft on top of her head and floated backward, glaring at him darkly. Reaching carefully up, she readjusted the tuft until it stood up straight again, turning back to face him.

A Bubblebeam blasted over his head, but as he danced to the side it didn't come close. She was getting more and more frustrated with every passing second, tentacles stiffening and weeping a light poison.

Darkness bubbled inside of her eyes, and it only took him a second to realize it wasn't just an emotion. Ghost type energy writhed from her eyes down to her arms, twisting over her pink skin. She slashed them sideways, sending two Night Shades toward him. He fell down, barely avoiding the attack.

But now he was on the ground, and that was where she wanted him. With another high pitched giggle, she sprang forward and grabbed his midriff with her tentacles, pinning his arms to his sides.

There wasn't anything he could do. Even while writhing desperately, she managed to actually float easily into the air while holding an entire human, twisting around so she could stare at him with a dark grin. The undersides of her arms glinted with that same poison, though it might only paralyze him.

Siren reveled in the victory for a second, baring sharp fangs at his restrained form. There wasn't anything he could do right now and she knew it - this was much too planned out to be a first time thing. There hadn't been a moment where she didn't know what she was doing. Even when she was being captured she had been using weakened moves in order to trick him into letting her near his pokemon and himself. Strictly a carnivore indeed - ghost types needed to feed.

The arms settled on either side of his sides. He could feel something burning on his skin, but the majority of the poison was still working past his shirt. He thrashed harder, but already his arms were stilling by his side, the skin settling on a comfortable numb-

A bellow.

Siren stopped, lifting her arms away and turning towards the direction of the sound. He tried his best but could manage a gentle twist toward the side, paralyzing poison crawling up his neck.

Ro shook himself, the gaping cut still over his side. But he was standing, he was at least okay, and he was _pissed_.

His trainer attacked by a dangerous pokemon he had thought he had beaten, using tricks and lies. The snake had been hurt as well but he hadn't even been able to move, to react, before the pokemon his trainer had entrusted a _name_ to had blasted him out of the clearing with only two moves.

There was nothing he had been able to do as his trainer was poisoned and his fellow teammates were nearly eaten. But now, something flickered beneath his skin, a powerful energy that he had never felt before. It flashed beneath him, and he could see a little bit of it in front of his eyes, glowing. It filled him with a courage he hadn't had before and he recognized it as the extra boost of energy he had been getting before, but now it was more present. It bucked beneath his skin, surging through his veins.

He gave into the energy and _roared_.

Ash could only watch as Ro glowed, his form fading away into a brilliant ball of light. Siren blinked as the light jabbed into her sensitive eyes and hissed furiously, floating closer. She was slower with an entire human wrapped in her tentacles but his weight still didn't seem to affect her that much.

The light throbbed one last time, seemingly as bright as the sun in this night. Ro bellowed again as he appeared, energy fading beneath his skin. He was no longer a nidoran - now he charged into the fight as a powerful nidorino.

Ash gaped as the poison type extended his barbs, rumbling deep in his chest. The sound was incredibly rough and much more deep than it had been before he evolved. Before, Ro had been two feet tall, nearly twice as much as the average nidoran. Now he towered above other members of his species even more at nearly four feet, a foot and a half above other nidorino.

Siren actually looked a little nervous. She had been able to take two unevolved pokemon who hadn't seen her coming, but now one of them had grown significantly stronger and was ready for her.

Ro bellowed again, challenging her.

The frillish hissed back, tentacles popping open. Ash yelped as he thudded against the ground, the shock pushing some of the paralyzer out of his system. With a grunt, he flipped over to stare at the fight as he struggled to his feet.

Siren floated about two feet off of the ground, nearly six feet at her tuft. She hissed again, the sound drenched in rage and darkness.

Ro barely reacted to her obvious threats, narrowing his eyes and flexing his legs. He hadn't had any time to get used to his new weight but adrenaline thrummed through his veins and with pure instinct, he reared back and spat out a glob of poison.

It wasn't Poison Sting, and that was simply because of the amount of poison. Ash blinked as a veritable blast of poison nearly the size of his chest flew toward Siren. There was too much of it to solidify in the air, and it just splattered against the frillish's chest, sinking immediately past her skin.

Siren shrieked, wincing incredibly heavily. She flew back, hovering high in the air as she tried to get the poison off of her with her arms but only succeeded in rubbing it deeper into her skin.

Ash managed to stand up, his left arm hanging limply at his side. He hurried back toward Ro, placing his right hand on the nidorino's head. "Come on, bud. Let's take her down one more time."

He got a pleased rumble in response, Ro shaking himself as his barbs extended even farther. They were definitely longer than before.

"Ice Beam!" He commanded.

Brilliant silver energy immediately built up in Ro's throat, slamming the temperature to the ground in a chokehold. Ash shivered and even Ro seemed affected, narrowing his eyes and fixing his glare on Siren, who had given up on smearing the poison away and was floating back in for a fight.

The Ice Beam ripped through the air, but it wasn't his regular move. No, now he had the power to bring the move up to the strength it was supposed to be - three twisting beams curved over the ground and slammed into a young tree just a little below Siren, immediately snapping it in half.

Ash gaped. Siren hissed.

Ro reared right back up and fired another Ice Beam, though this one was definitely a bit weaker. The silver energy writhed as it shot toward Siren, who tried her best to avoid it. It hit her right on the chest.

She shrieked, ice spreading over her body. Before, she had been able to resist it, but now she was still injured from the fight in the bay and then Ro's attacks from now. Her body temperature shot down as ice crept over her arms and then down to her tentacles. She fell from the air, trying to float but not having the energy to do so.

Siren thudded against the ground, desperately shaking to try and get the ice off of her skin. It didn't do much, a few slivers falling away.

Ash grabbed his back with his right arm, left arm tingling terribly like it had been asleep for twenty years. But the poison was wearing away quickly, and he was able to grab another pokeball.

Ro stood by him as he walked toward the downed pokemon, who hissed as he approached. But there wasn't anger in her eyes for some reason, and she had given up struggling.

He glared at her, chuckling the pokeball. It hit her cheek and she was immediately sucked inside, the ice chattering against the ground. Sure, most of it was still on her, but the excess not directly against her skin wasn't called into the pokeball.

Ro tensed by his side. If she tried to come out again he had to be ready to fight her once again-

The pokeball clicked instantly.

Ash blinked, staring down with not a small amount of confusion. She had literately spent a couple of minutes trying to get out last time, and now she had just given up easily? She had already shown herself to be more than capable of breaking out of her pokeball, but there was almost no chance she could break out of it again with how weak she was. Pokemon had about a two day time where they could successfully destroy their pokeball from inside, and that was only if they were at full or close to full strength. He wasn't going to let her be healed even somewhat until that time range passed again.

So why had she let herself be captured?

The pokeball burst open.

Ro immediately lunged forward, but Siren just floated up in the air, shaking herself. Stretching out her arms and flicking her tentacles furiously, she successfully got out of range of Ro's direct attacks, but his ranged ones were still in perfect use.

An Ice Beam began to build in his throat, but Siren paid it no mind, closing her eyes. Her skin began to glow.

Ash frowned, but it wasn't the glow of evolution. It was much darker, only appearing under the ice on her chest and the drops of blood from Poison Stings. After a second, the ice detached itself from her body and the cuts closed up. Ro blinked, cutting off his move as he stared at her.

Ash cursed. He had known she could use Recover - why hadn't he prepared for it? "Ro! Ice Beam!" He shouted.

Siren's crimson eyes popped back open and she floated back down, but there wasn't any anger in her eyes. She giggled lightly, floating close to Ash. He tensed up, ready to run. Ro shot forward, ice type energy strong in his throat.

She frowned at him, barely managing to dodge the Ice Beam that rocketed into the sky. Ash began to turn, to run away, when she giggled happily and brushed against his side.

He didn't move, but neither did she. Siren tapped his shoulder with her arm but he didn't feel any poison, just a slick, rather wet arm. Ro rumbled at her but he had straightened up - he wasn't preparing any attacks. She chittered at him, shark teeth bared in a cheerful grin. He narrowed his eyes but grunted back.

With a happy bubbled sound, she released Ash and floated back over to the ground, where her pokeball sat. She picked it up with one arm, cradling it carefully. She hadn't destroyed it when she had gotten out - not that she really could, with how injured she was - and now she floated back toward his camp, where his belt sat.

Ash really couldn't process anything. Ro had evolved to be able to attack her and now he was letting her go about her business like anyone else. He trusted his pokemon over his own instincts and so let her do her thing, but a command for an attack sat right on the tip of his tongue.

Siren narrowed her eyes, chittering annoyedly before she found his belt. Floating closer, she gently set her pokeball on the fourth pocket for pokeballs. Looking over at him, she tapped the button and was sucked inside.

Ash blinked. What.

The pokeball didn't so much as shake, even after she healed herself. Siren had just… given up?

But that wasn't the right words either. She hadn't just given up, she had willing and actively joined him once again, even after she had quickly healed herself and could have kept fighting. But she didn't.

Honestly, he was so confused, but Ro seemed to trust the pokemon, and he trusted the nidoran - nidorino, now.

He walked back toward his bag, staring at the pokeball on his belt. Siren had put herself in the fourth pokemon spot, right after Vulpix. She had known where to go as well as how to both catch herself and put the pokeball where she wanted it to go. He wouldn't trust her - definitely not right after she had broken out of her pokeball and attacked him and his pokemon - but he'd wait until morning to start interrogating.

But there was something more he had to focus on. Kneeling down, he reached into the backpack and grabbed his largest potion. It was a special, stronger brand - a super potion. When he started off his journey, his pokemon didn't know very many strong moves. They just hit each other and since most of the pokemon he battled had lower attacks and health, they didn't get that injured. But as they evolved and got stronger, the moves began to hit more than just the skin or scales. Potions had to harness the pokemon's ambient energy instead of just its own powers, and that would leave his pokemon a bit weak and sore for a while. As they got stronger, that would only increase as they began to hit harder and harder, especially for Apep, who never really evolved to have stronger defenses. His scales grew, sure, but not very much. Ro, on the other hand, would be a powerhouse that could shrug off powerful moves and keep fighting past effective move after effective moves. Nidoking held an incredible amount of power on all aspects. Vulpix would get bigger with thicker skin, but fire types had another ability. If they could completely bath themselves in flames - or lava, in the case of magmar - then they could begin to heal, the fire cauterizing their wounds yet not injuring them. Not perfect healing, but it'd do in a pinch of a long battle.

He walked back toward Apep, who was fully flopped on the ground. Opening the potion, he rubbed it over the bruised and irritated skin. His scales were actually almost transparent, at least opaque. It was very useful for him as he was able to see when the pokemon had gotten injured through his bruises, but for Apep they were needed - he could use his scales in a similar way to the ozone layer, letting heat through his scales and then trapping it with the clouded underside. One of the many ways ekans had evolved to be able to survive long winters, though they numbered few in Kanto.

It was only a couple of seconds before Apep lunged back to life, hissing furiously and flashing purple fangs. Ash just jumped back a step, letting his pokemon lock eyes with him and calm down. He sat in front of the snake, watching as Apep hissed in thanks as most of his pain faded away.

"Hey bud. Don't worry, Ro got Siren," he said, stroking over his scales. Apep narrowed his eyes, twisting to see Ro, only to blanch in surprise.

The nidorino lumbered over to stand next to Ash. While he was sitting, Ro's bulk actually reached a little above his head. It was disorienting, considering the fact he had been able to comfortably rest his hand on Ro's shoulder while sitting. The evolution had been very kind to him in that aspect.

Ro licked his forehead, squishing his hair. There was a dull tingle over his skin as the nidorino's toxins bubbled against his skin, but the safety injections he had gotten saved him from anything bad happening. But it was a telling sign - now that he had evolved and grown stronger, every part of him was producing more poison even stronger than before. The tingles went away after a few seconds.

Apep looked absolutely furious. Ash grinned despite his frustration. "Yeah Apep, you lost. Ro evolved first."

The ekans promptly turned around and coiled up. Ash laughed.

* * *

The next morning went… interestingly.

It didn't take him very long to explain the situation to Vulpix, who peered curiously at the pokeball over her morning meal. She was a bit miffed - and rightly so - at him keeping her in her pokeball overnight, even though he was still close to the ocean. There was a slight hiss as she stared into the water but she seemed to be fine, though she kept one Will-O-Wisp floating over her back just to make sure that only very little water moisture got anywhere close to her. Her power over the fireballs had gotten incredibly strong, almost to the point where she could not even notice she was controlling them. Most fire types had sheer strength and power behind their actions but vulpix and ninetales had something else - grace and control, which could land absolutely devastating hits.

They all ate quickly, packing up his bag and making sure that he hadn't forgotten anything. Vulpix was staying out today and once he did release Siren, he'd just use Apep and Ro to try to figure out what was going on and keep Vulpix far, far away from the dangerous water type.

Clearing out an area, Ash made sure all of his pokemon were far enough away. It was nearly an identical picture to what had happened when he had first released Siren, before she broke out only thirty minutes later.

He threw the pokeball out onto the middle of the clearing.

Siren came out in a burst of scarlet light, chittering happily. She immediately zeroed in on Ash and sped forward rather quickly, tentacles propelling her through the air. Ignoring Apep's furious hiss and rattle, she bumped her head against his arm and floated there, just a little above eye level.

He hesitantly reached up and touched the side of her head. Her skin was moist, almost slippery, and cool to the touch. Another chitter and she leaned into his touch, none of the aggression he had felt from her before present in any of her actions. She seemed almost excited to be there.

Apep rattled his tail, and Siren turned toward him with a light sound of curiosity. He actually made a sort of barking sound, grinding the noise in the back of his throat before releasing it. That was probably the closest that Apep would ever get to the rumbles Ro made, but the sound was intimidating. Rough, a bit scratchy, the bark was an obvious question toward Siren.

She answered it immediately, spreading her arms and bobbing her head. Apep reared up higher to better stare into her eyes, flexing the beginnings of his hood. Often, arbok would use the designs on their hood to intimidate or even hypnotize their prey, though they couldn't learn the move Hypnosis. He hissed again, this time more lightly. She chittered back, head tilted.

Apep hissed once to get his attention, and he turned toward the snake. He inclined his head toward Siren, then jabbed his tail toward her pokeball. After a second, he nodded his head yes.

Ash blinked. "She wants to be my pokemon?"

He nodded.

Siren made a bubbling noise, crimson eyes wide and blue pupils pointed directly toward him. Perhaps it was because of her ghost typing, but her eyes didn't seem to show much emotion. They seemed… blank, no matter how her tentacles flicked happily and she waved her arms near her sides. Her eyes moved and blinked and saw, but it seemed like there was nothing behind them.

Eyes were the window to the soul. It was an old adage, written by some self-proclaimed genius who had found lies by watching eyes. There were always rumors that ghost pokemon were alive because they had already died, their souls coming back to repossess bodies and have new life. Perhaps the reason Siren's eyes were so blank was because the eyes were not of her soul, windows to a hollow space where a soul had once sat before hers took over.

He shook himself, dimly aware of the time that had passed. Chills crept up his spine and his arms were pricked with gooseflesh, a dull pounding behind his eyes. Siren tilted her head at him, chittering softly.

"I'm fine. Just a little confused," he assured her.

She shook her head, drifting forward and flicking her arms until he stared into her eyes once again.

This time, he could feel something happening. A push on a thin wall behind his eyes, something inside of him recoiling at the touch. He distantly remembered the weak psychic barriers made by Hypno's attack. Ghost types were incredibly strong against psychic moves and pokemon - the soul and mind were tied together in more ways than could be counted, and psychics had to struggle hard to connect to already dead pokemon. Dark pokemon were different, untouchable because of strange forms of energy from an unknown location thrumming beneath their skin, but while ghosts could be affected, the strain of doing so was incredibly high for psychics.

Apep reared back up and let his body flash once with Wrap. While he wasn't performing the move, his muscles were strengthened powerfully by the move in order to keep his prey locked up. Using the extra strength, he flicked Siren with his tail.

She floated back, though the attack had done next to nothing. Chittering a bit angrily at the snake, she stopped drifting forward as Ash held up his hand.

"Siren." She turned to fully face him. "You attacked my pokemon last night. You attacked me last night. You attempted to harm us all."

She averted her eyes slightly but he continued on strong, a flicker of anger building beneath his skin. "You tried to kill my pokemon. That is something I will not hesitate to stop you for. If there is even the slightest chance you are trying to gain my favor in order to attack again, I will not hesitate in slamming you down until you cannot move and then leaving you inside of your pokeball for the rest of your life."

He waited as she thought through every one of his words, shaking her head no. She chittered a bit quieter than before and pointed at her pokeball. The message took a moment to get across, but he knew what she wanted.

"Well then. Siren, welcome to the team. I hope you don't prove me wrong." He allowed a bit of steel to flow into his words, back straightening. Though he hadn't done much, he had survived attacks from Team Rocket. A pokemon would not be the one to break his team, especially not now.

She chittered at him, the sound high and delighted. Her range of vocals was peculiar. There were high, human like giggles that had admittedly scared him much more than Ro's deep rumbles could. Hisses when she was upset, though they were much rougher and almost more hollow than Apep's were. But she mainly communicated with chittering sounds that were much easier to pick apart more of her emotions.

Apep hissed at her but let the muscle strengthener of Wrap fade away with a stern glare from Ash. He sagged a bit as it left, not used to keeping the move up for long periods of time. But things were still going well.

Ro still had a dark gleam in his eye as he stared at the frillish, but he seemed to readily accept her with a grunt as he stepped back over to a nearby tree, shoving his shoulder against it. He was still figuring out his own strength, and it was better against an inanimate object than another pokemon. Ash winced as the tree groaned when Ro slammed his entire weight behind the shove.

Vulpix yipped curiously at pokemon. Every time Siren floated closer she would back away, but as long as they stayed several feet away, Vulpix seemed okay. With a few words (and threats) from Ash, Siren knew the gist of her abilities and had bobbed her head easily when he asked her not to use any water moves.

With that, he began to travel again. Despite Ro's protests, he recalled the pokemon quickly. Nidorino or not, he had just evolved and before Ash started him on more difficult training tasks, he wanted Nurse Joy to check him out. It wouldn't be much longer to Saffron if he moved quickly and kept the training to a low point. Anyway, Apep had been pretty injured by Siren and though the strength of evolution had dimmed the pain of the Night Shades on Ro, he was still injured.

Siren was recalled as well, though of her own accord. She couldn't move very quickly out of water even with her ghost typing and wouldn't be able to keep up with them, no matter how Ash pushed her. There was a gleam in her eyes that he actively disliked, a bloodhungry strength in her movements as she floated in the air before he recalled her. Even though she didn't try and attack him and his pokemon, something bubbled beneath her skin that seemed furious and ready to attack at any moment.

Vulpix trotted at his side, Apep only a bit in front. They were a relatively unthreatening group, which probably explained why a few trainers got a greedy look in their eyes and decided to challenge him.

He played a bit dirty. Though Apep was injured, he trusted the pokemon's strength for at least a few battles. Betting an extra five for every challenge he wasn't feeling too threatened by, he got the other trainer to throw their pokemon first. A water type, he'd send Apep onto the field. Anything else, and he'd let Vulpix burn it to ashes.

She was powerful in a way he couldn't quite understand yet. Fire simmered beneath her fur and more often than not he had to call Vulpix to absorb fires she started after the battle was finished. That entire day, he didn't lose a single battle.

The real shock came when they were training that night. He finally believed his pokemon were ready to move on from their TMs he had given them, after watching Vulpix slam her shadowed tail into the wall with enough force to crack it.

Siren watched the moves carefully, though she hissed at the dark type energy. Ash didn't quite know where to go on training her, but he was sure he'd figure it out. Testing out her moves would be a boon.

Apep cracked another part of the rock with Payback. Ro's Ice Beam - three twisting, curving beams of solid ice - shattered the entire stone.

They all blinked at it, even Ro. Siren chittered happily and clapped her two arms together, tentacles flicking.

"Okay, guys. I think we're going to move on."

He turned to Apep, grinning as the snake hissed happily. Apep wanted more moves, he wanted to be stronger, he wanted to beat Ro. "Apep, use Protect."

It was the first time he was having his pokemon use the new move. He expected a faint flicker in the air, maybe a basic hint of a shield of some sort. From his expression, that was what Apep expected too.

He did not see a brilliant, shining green shield to erupt in front of Apep's nose.

It easily covered his entire body, curving in the air. The green energy hummed softly, more of a presence than an actual sound. He could feel the strength of the move, and decided to test it. Stepping forward, he rapped his knuckles on the green shield. It was like touching a wall.

Almost faintly, he commanded Ro. "Ice Beam. Keep it weak."

Apep narrowed his eyes and Protect flared up stronger as he focused on it, staring at Ro through the green energy. Ro charged up a noticeably weak Ice Beam in the back of his throat before releasing it.

The move slammed into Protect and just stopped. It wasn't powerful enough to rebound and the move completely stopped the power, though a wave of ice type energy rippled through the air.

"Ice Beam. Destroy it," he commanded, eyes narrowed.

By the time the second, much more powerful Ice Beam slammed into it, Apep had already focused more of his power on it. The Ice Beam fizzled as it struck, losing most of its power, escaping only as a weak rebounded beam that barely got halfway back to Ro before fading out. The Protect was still strong.

He blinked. Alright. He hadn't expected that. It had taken his three pokemon nearly a week and a half to learn their TM moves, and he had thought that was good. "Vulpix, Protect."

The shield that appeared was slightly larger than Apep's to cope for her body size, but it seemed no less powerful for it. Apep leaned forward and poked his Protect with his nose before letting it drop, glancing curiously over at Vulpix's. She seemed just as confused, sniffing it and breathing a thin tongue of flame towards its edge.

Ro, at his command, shot another Ice Beam at the Protect. It stood up well, though the second Vulpix looked away and lost concentration, it began to crack and eventually shattered in midair, though the attack was long since over. She started, jumping in the air. Vulpix glared at the few shards of Protect littering the ground, slowly fading into a light green mist that quickly disappeared.

"Okay. I didn't see that coming. Just work on strengthening it a bit, guys. Ro, keep launching all your moves at it. Don't give them a second to try and get it stronger. Make sure not to actually hit them, though." The nidorino nodded and turned back to Apep, who hissed and summoned another shield.

He sat down and pulled out his pokedex, leaving Siren to watch over the training with a bit of bewilderment. Most pokemon in the wild didn't have any idea of how to train well, most often just blasting attacks with the energy they had inside of themselves until an attack eventually came out. So more often than not, they had incredibly powerful but few moves in their arsenal, which seemed to correlate well with Siren. Her Night Shades had thrown Ro out of the battle for at least a while and kept Apep down.

Silver energy billowed over the clearing, the edges brushing over his legs and sending shivers over his spine. Apep hissed furiously as the edges of his Protect cracked from the strain of stopping the Ice Beam, but he was unharmed.

He flicked his pokedex open, quickly typing in _teaching pokemon moves with TMs_. Several sites popped up and he clicked the first one.

A while later, he sighed and leaned back against the tree. Alright. So he had been training his pokemon wrong.

TMs were special because they were supposed to take a week and a half. What he had done was assumed that TMs only taught the basics of harnessing the energy to the pokemon and maybe the basic idea of the move, and from there on out he'd have to teach them. But the fact was that TMs were very curious things that had taken many decades to perfect and couldn't be explained that simply.

For the first part, TMs were collective knowledge. The creators - Silph Co, though with lots of help from private researchers and the League - spent three years teaching pokemon the moves they wanted to create the TMs out of until the pokemon knew the move inside and out. Then, using their most powerful psychic, an incredible gardevoir with the power few had seen before, they extracted the knowledge of the move out of the pokemon's minds.

There had been a lot of controversy about that, as the pokemon forgot ever learning the move in the first place. Silph Co did their best to appease the public, such as hide the gardevoir away until no one except for its trainer could find and use it in battle as well as giving the used pokemon the absolute best possible home they could ever want. A lot of people still didn't like it but since Silph had gotten the backing of the League, there was little they could do about it.

And then there was little they wanted to do after TMs were released to the public. They were incredible machines that directly put the knowledge of how to perform the move into the pokemon's head. It didn't teach them how to do it perfectly - Silph Co had cut back on a few of the memories of absolute control in order to prevent too much stress on the pokemon's mind - but they learned how to harness the energy, how to direct it in the move, and a moderate amount of control. His pokemon had probably learned the move after the first couple of times they had done it, but he had held them back by not letting them perform in any battles, keeping them to their old moves.

If he had let them learn it for a couple of hours, maybe two training sessions just to be safe, they would have had it down instead of him spending a week and a half on something that came pretty naturally to them. For attacks like Ice Beam, which wasn't anything Ro had learned before, the time learning control was useful, but if he had simply let his friend sort through the memories and figure it out things would have been fine.

Ash sighed and dragged a hand over his face. Siren looked over and chittered at him, head tilted as she bobbed lightly in the air. Most of her attention was still fixed on the Ice Beams Ro was using, and Ash vaguely recalled that she could learn a few ice type moves, though that wouldn't be for a while. He'd check out her moves after they reached Saffron City, as he was cutting his training sessions short for now and she was still sore from when he had captured her. Ro as well, but Vulpix and Apep should be at least pretty okay. If he healed them up enough, he had an idea.

He stood up, clapping his hands. "Alright, everyone! Stop!"

Ro immediately closed his mouth, grunting in annoyance as he forced the Ice Beam in his throat to stop. A bit of silver energy slipped from his nose. Vulpix let her Protect shatter. It was too weak to just fade away, cracks spreading over its forms. A bit of ice was by her paws where some of the Ice Beam had snuck through, but it was already melting from her sheer presence. Apep didn't look too bad, spitting out a blob of poison and hissing his victory rather cheerfully.

"Ro, go take a break with Siren. That's all the training for tonight. Once we get to Saffron we can start battling again, but until then I don't want you pushed too hard." He grinned, teasing gently. "You just had to evolve when we're still a couple more days away from Saffron, didn't you?"

The nidorino rumbled at him, but there was no challenge in the sound. He scratched behind his ears - ears that suddenly looked far more proportional to his large body - as Ro plodded over to him.

He turned his attention back to Apep and Vulpix, who were both peering at him. "You too, five minutes to catch your breath. After that, a gift to you, Vulpix - I want a spar, a good one. Don't hold back."

The grin that slipped over Vulpix's face could not be described as kind. She leveled a light look at Apep, who looked just as excited.

Ash hadn't had his pokemon spar yet. In the beginning, it was because fighting that early on in his journey could cause some serious problems with team morale, and then as time went on he just kind of forgot. But with Vulpix's oh-so-helpful challenge to Apep only the day earlier, he was ready to see how this went.

Vulpix immediately stalked off to one corner, the front of her chest beginning to glow a gentle yellow. After a second, she found a relatively clear patch of land and immediately launched a Flamethrower at the ground. Heat trickled over the ground toward him, but he could see her exhaustion fade slightly and her fire grow stronger as the ground beneath her caught fire.

Flash Fire was a dangerous ability, but for the most part Vulpix seemed well adapted to handling it. There was a dangerous steel in her step ever since she started mastering her fire powers, and he still remembered with vivid memory the contempt she had showed the ariados before blasting it with a Flamethrower. It had only taken two of her most powerful attacks before fainting. The trainer had seemed a bit embarrassed at having their pokemon defeated so easily, especially to the normally docile vulpix.

As Ash was pretty quickly learning with his fire type, don't listen to stereotypes.

Vulpix had the same thirst for battle that Apep did, but she was more controlled. Dare he say it, she was arrogant - but fighting against anything weak to fire attacks, she had earned it. A few hits would knock her down but for the most part, she could move fast enough to dodge and then strike them down. And with Protect soon to be at her disposal, he was very excited for once he challenged Erika.

Apep was no pushover, though. His first pokemon and the one that had seen the most battles with his strategy. The first spar he'd just let them fight it out, but for the ones after that he'd help out one pokemon. Vulpix hadn't seen Apep's non-verbal commands, as he didn't really need them against everyday challenges. For Surge though, there would be more trills and whistles than words. He couldn't give the electric type master any sort of advantage over him if the rumors of his strength weren't exaggerated.

Five minutes clicked by. Vulpix had stopped shooting out flames and now was resting rather comfortably in a smoldering pile of ash that she had burnt from the ground. Heat trickled into the air above her.

Apep didn't have any sort of method to heal himself, though Vulpix's way didn't do that much. He just laid down, regaining his strength as he watched the fox pokemon with half lidded golden eyes. He wasn't planning on losing this fight.

Neither was Vulpix.

They both stood on opposite sides of the clearing, eyes narrowed. Siren, Ro, and Ash were pressed against a tree, his supplies stacked next to them. It probably wouldn't last too long, but all of them were excited to see it. Of course, they'd all had battles where he had commanded them loosely, letting them for the most part control the show. But this would be the first time under his command where he let them hash it out with nothing from their trainer. Maybe they'd learn something.

"Don't hold back, but no severe injuries. If you knock each other out, we'll see whether we can have another battle after. Vulpix, try to avoid destroying the forest." She barked in confirmation. "Apep, ditto."

He slashed his hand down. "Go!"

Vulpix immediately opened his mouth, a brilliant ball of white flame building in her throat. She spat out several Will-O-Wisps, letting them bob in the air around, three spheres of fire capable of burning past Apep's scales.

Apep glared at them, but he didn't seem very concerned. He didn't act immediately, just staring at Vulpix with narrowed golden eyes. His fangs glinted a dark purple as he coiled up, ready to strike.

Vulpix took one step forward.

Apep launched himself as her, slamming into her chest. She yipped angrily, pushed back a step, but Ash could hear the crackling as the fire above her head increased in strength. Apep reared back on the ground in front of her and struck his fangs into her shoulder with the power of Poison Fang.

He immediately pulled back, hissing angrily. The inside of his mouth was lined with blackened skin, burned.

Vulpix looked smug as she immediately turned around and blasted Apep's face with Tail Whip.

Apep hissed furiously as he was shot back over to his side of clearing, but Vulpix wasn't done. She stayed turned around and let her balls of fire dip just low enough in the air to be slammed by her tail.

Two exploded against Apep's back while he flung himself away from the other, letting it pepper the grass with burning embers.

Ash frowned as he looked over the field. Vulpix wasn't too injured, though the poison in her bloodstream would quickly begin to weaken her reflexes and ability to concentrate before she eventually passed out. But that would be a while. Apep, on the other hand, had only gotten one thing of real damage, but the burns from Flame Body and Will-O-Wisp would greatly reduce his speed, which was one of his greatest assets. He just wasn't built to take hits and now he had to rely on Protect to dodge-

Apep let out a triumphant hiss before he started glowing.

Ash immediately perked up but it wasn't the light of evolution. Certain parts of his scales lit up, becoming loose and losing their color. After a few seconds, they fell off of his body and fluttered to the ground. Bright new scales shone from underneath. Shed Skin - Apep's ability, which allowed him to get rid of burns.

Vulpix looked pissed. With a low growl, she closed her eyes and concentrated, tails flicking.

Ash could feel the moment that the temperature picked up. A wave of heat burst out of her fur, snaking over the clearing. The grass spontaneously caught fire around her feet as heat shot into the air.

He watched with not a small amount of awe as purple smoke floated out of her back, escaping through the pores in her skin. She had just evaporated the poison inside of her bloodstream by heating her body to incredible heights.

Though she didn't look very good for it. She panted, tongues of fire rolling out with every breath. But the poison was gone and she was almost glowing with heat.

Apep looked more nervous than he had a second ago, tongue flicking out. Vulpix didn't give him another second to think. Barking furiously, she sprang at him. Her body flickered even more powerfully with the glow of Quick Attack as she slammed into Apep's side, throwing him down.

He hissed furiously, tail glowing a powerful silver. Slamming it into the ground, he got the tip under the soil, halting him flying back. Apep rattled his tail threateningly, still glowing silver, and lunged right back into the offensive as Vulpix turned around.

Apep ducked under the Tail Whip and slammed Iron Tail into her side, the steel energy fading the second it hit her but protecting him from damage. She hissed furiously and backed up, but Apep just spat a glob of Acid at her face.

The strategy was smart. Poison Sting would penetrate past her skin but since her pores were so oversized, Acid would probably go right into her system, even though it wasn't toxic enough.

Vulpix's eyes began to glow from the strength of her fire. The Acid sat on her fur for a second before bursting into flames and evaporating. Apep just blinked at her with not a small amount of confusion.

Tongues of fire raced over her body, and sweat dripped down Ash's brow. Flames danced over her fur and exploded over her tails. She began to run, pounding her paws against the ground as fire licked across her path. Despite having little to burn on, the fire burned with a passion.

Ash grinned as the flames surged even higher. Fires normally behaved as they should - except when used in a move, where they were boosted by the pokemon's mental strength and fortitude. Vulpix was doing something.

Her speed picked up yet again until she was sprinting circles around Apep, who flicked his tongue out and coiled up, ready to strike. After a couple more seconds, she was just a blur of red in a blaze of fire.

Apep suddenly tensed up, whirling around with his tail glowing a sickening black.

Vulpix lunged out of the fire, saw the Payback, and disappeared back into the roaring flames. She was definitely ignoring his rule to keep destruction to a minimum.

Actually, she really disappeared. The flames were the same color as her fur and her movements were disguised in the crackle of the flame. She was - to an extent - invisible inside of her fire.

Apep hissed furiously at the flames that threatened to consume him at any turn. He only had a couple of feet on either side, barely enough to fit him, and the flames were only creeping in farther.

It took him a second, but he eventually recognized the technique. Fire Spin, though a bastardized version of it. The sheer strength she was using to try and keep it up was exhausting, and she was of the mind that more had more power. But for the moment, the only thing it was doing was mildly annoying Apep with the heat. To do a correct Fire Spin, she only had to create the burning circle of fire and then keep up a little mental strength to keep it from going out. She didn't have to keep running the circle, and he could already see her slowing down.

Apep saw it too, and with narrowed eyes, he watched her carefully before lunging forward and slamming Iron Tail into her side.

Vulpix shrieked, flying out of the fire. She growled darkly but pulled herself back up, eyes flickering with flames. The farther the battle progressed, she seemed to sink more and more into her element. This was one of the most difficult battles he'd ever put her in and the battle rage she hadn't felt with him before was showing.

Apep looked a bit nervous as she bared crackling fangs at him. The fire around him died slowly, left without anything to burn. She didn't know how to keep a Fire Spin up for any longer than she was in it.

An Ember slammed into Apep's head. His neck cracked to the side and he hissed furiously, letting the motion of being hit twist him around. The pain changed to dark energy as his tail became drenched in shadows and his eyes flickered to a dull blankness. Vulpix barely had time to react as Payback slammed directly between her ears. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she passed out.

Ash winced in sympathy as her form fell to the ground. Apep panted by her side, burns covering his tail and head. The battle, though he had won, had not been kind to him, and he was feeling it.

Ash stepped closer and, a bit hesitantly, brushed Vulpix's fur. Now that she was knocked out after using so much energy, her ability of Flame Body was barely there. Though she was warm, he was able to pick her up and carry her to the side of the clearing.

"Siren, can you use Water Sport? Don't hit Vulpix." She chittered warmly as she floated to the middle of the clearing, tentacles extended. Closing her eyes, she raised her arms before jerking them down.

Water flowed out of her body, kept close before she breathed out and let it all flow over the clearing, though there was a two foot circle around Ash that stayed dry. He grinned at her control over the move, non-damaging though it was. The water splashed over the ground and instantly put every last ember and flame out without so much as a fizzle, the humidity in the air greatly raising the strength of water type moves because the pokemon didn't have to completely draw water from their own reservoirs. Fire type moves just didn't have the same strength with all of the water vapor in the air.

Siren chittered happily as she looked around the clearing, the ground pleasantly damp for her. Ro sniffed as the moisture collecting on his back rather curiously, the poison over his barbs slowly staining it a light purple. He shook it off before he could truly poison it as to avoid damaging someone else.

He dug through his bag and pulled out a revive, glaring at his supply. As his pokemon got stronger, they would be able to heal faster on their own even with the more powerful attacks used against them, but for the time being he ran through revives like no one's business, and they weren't the cheapest thing ever.

After a moment, Vulpix perked back up. He had laid her on the ground to give her the revive, though she frowned at the water only a couple of feet away from her. "Hey girl." He smiled at her.

She yipped up at him, a bit confused. There were memories of using fire like it was a part of her but then she had been knocked unconscious.

"You started to learn a new move, Vulpix! Fire Spin is really awesome but we're going to have another day on Protect before we learn how to perfect that move. But I can already tell it's going to be strong - you seriously hurt some sort the trees around here."

They both looked around at the clearing, which was full of singed wood and ashes where there had once been leaves and grass. Not as destructive as she could be - she hadn't even used her Flamethrower - but the power of the fire was something obvious to see. Vulpix grinned at the destruction.

Apep peered over at her, shaking off a few water droplets from Water Sport. There was victory in his eyes, but he still came over and poked Vulpix with his nose, hissing rather softly for him.

She purred back. There was no aggression in her voice. She was only upset she had lost, not that he had won.

Ash couldn't be happier. His pokemon were well on the way of getting incredibly stronger and they were staying happy with each other as well. There were always known problems of certain pokemon getting stronger or evolving into a powerful new form that left divides in the team, ones that could seriously upset battles. Even though Ro had evolved and Apep had beat Vulpix, they still stayed together.

Siren chittered at both of them, and Ro grunted as an answer. Ash smiled and stroked over Vulpix's steadily warming ears.

* * *

Ash's ears perked up as he heard the bustle of people, far too many to be a traveling group of trainers unless there were more than twenty of them. Unless he was wrong, civilization approached.

Vulpix perked up as well, and Apep had already sped up slightly, though he stayed close to Ash. It had been a long week on the road since he had caught Siren and they were all tired - no matter how many times he dozed them up, traveling medicines could only do so much for their exhaustion and wounds. Apep was still favouring the edge of his tail after an Iron Tail that had been blasted with a Rock Throw strong enough to destroy the move before it could even hit the pokemon.

Ro and Siren were still recalled, though he was very much ready for Nurse Joy to check over his nidorino so Ro could start battles again. He avoided using Siren because she was still a bit weak from being captured, despite him having healed her several times and her use of Restore. Better safe than sorry.

Though he'd kept the training light, his pokemon had definitely began to exceed his expectations. Vulpix learned the basics of Fire Spin in a single night and was just perfecting keeping her energy output to a minimum. Siren hadn't learnt any new moves, but all of her old ones were getting better and better. Her Night Shade was vicious and Restore could turn a bad fight back into a good one. Apep, once he had mastered Protect, had kept working on increasing his toxicity while Ash tried to find a way to help him learn Acid, though he was letting Apep run the show for this one. But for Ro, he hadn't done much except for working on learning his new limits. His poison was so much more potent and limitless than it had been before, and after Nurse Joy checked over Ro, Ash was putting him on Poison Jab, a step above Horn Attack.

In under five minutes, he turned a corner and the trees fell away suddenly, not a gentle entrance that he was used to. Saffron was a city trying desperately to be contained inside of a small place and it was pressed against the very edges of its borders, only ten feet from the edge of the forest until he reached the first building.

It was a gleaming steel jungle, the buildings built for height tightly packed up instead of sprawling over the area, bright metal shining in the setting sun. The roads were high quality stones neatly packed together, and the lights on the side of the street were high quality. The whole city didn't so much quietly exude wealth as scream it, and he felt the riches around him pressing down.

The feeling was exhausting.

There was also a light pressure behind his eyes, something heavy that took only a couple of minutes to fully push him into an annoyingly strong headache. He grimaced. That was definitely different.

But the Pokecenter was the same old glass dome and homey feeling, and he happily let himself in and walked toward Nurse Joy. She smiled at him, setting her book down and standing up from her chair. Most trainers came in during the morning, evening, or midday, spending the rest exploring and training. There weren't any other trainers in the common areas right now, the couches open.

"Hello, dear. Just got back from traveling, I assume?"

He nodded, handing over his pokeballs, having recalled them a bit earlier. "For my ekans and vulpix, they should just be a little injured from training and stuff. But frillish I just caught a weak ago and nidorino evolved at about that same time. I haven't noticed anything wrong but I'd really like a checkup."

She smiled at him, accepting his pokeballs. "Of course. Frillish are rather rare, though it is their migration time. Nidorino often don't have any problems with evolution as they pretty much only grow in size and power, but I'll probably keep him and your frillish over night just to be absolutely sure. Your vulpix and ekans will be done in about an hour if you want me to be thorough."

"Thank you!"

Nurse Joy waved farewell to him as he left the Pokecenter. He'd return after his pokemon healed up and he'd maybe find a couple of trainers to battle against, though he didn't think he'd stay very long in Saffron.

There was no way he would be able to challenge Sabrina even with Siren. For the first thing, he'd only been training his ghost tye for a single week, and she only knew one ghost type move. Apep could learn Bite, but that wouldn't be for a while. It just wasn't worth getting his team so badly hurt with possible real damage just for trying something he knew he couldn't win right now.

His headache returned full force, though it had been lessened slightly as he entered the Pokecenter. Probably because of the protections built into the foundation to try and prevent pokemon attacks. It hammered behind his eyes, and it only took a little bit to figure out why it was there.

He watched as a woman walked by, a kadabra floating peacefully by her heels. The psychic pokemon glanced over at him for a second, spoon glowing. The woman clucked her tongue and they both disappeared out of sight.

Another trainer with a psychic pokemon appeared around the corner.

The sheer amount of psychic energy was just too much for his - what had the man called them? - weak psychic barriers. There were reasons that psychics trained heavily before coming back out in the public and one of the main ones was because of over-saturation of psychic energy. The annoyance he was feeling was nothing compared to what a powerful untrained psychic would feel, but it still kind of sucked. Yeah, he was leaving Saffron City tomorrow. It wasn't worth it.

Something flashed in front of him, a distortion of air. Wind bubbled in front of him until it formed into a man, who stared calmly down at him.

Ash blinked. He recognized him.

Pale blue robes that drifted gently in an unseen breeze with a golden embroider on the left breast, threads shifting positions even as he looked at it. Tall, thin, a quiet look about him that didn't deny the power in his step.

The psychic from Mount Moon looked down at him, blue fading from his brown eyes as the energy from teleportation faded away. With any sort of greeting, he reached forward and clasped his hands around Ash's temples.

He jerked back but the man just strengthened his grip. Looking deeply into his eyes, his gaze flashed with brilliant cyan.

Ash felt a soothing presence touch the headache in his mind, prodding along the edges before settling over it as a whole. Something dropped in his mind and then his headache instantly disappeared. He blinked.

The psychic withdrew his hand. "My apologies. I forget that you cannot simply understand what I do. What I have done is temporarily lower your psychic barriers in order to prevent the natural psychic energy of Saffron to disrupt you. They will naturally raise again in around two days, and by that time you will be well on your well to Vermillion."

Ash opened his mouth to speak but the man steamrolled on. "Psychic energy used unwillingly on humans is a curious study, one that we have had few subjects to observe. The closest example we have been able to pull up is when young psychics in training spend months around psychic pokemon in order to feel the energy, but no moves are used directly on them. My lady Sabrina apologizes for the lack of expertise we have in helping you, but for the most part you shall be mentally fine."

He had barely gotten the question formed in his mind before the man spoke again. "My name, not given lightly, is psychic Fritz. We are helping you not only because of our duty to the league but because it is what we do - psychics do not become themselves to sit in dusty rooms and ignore pleas for help, no matter how silent they are."

Ash inclined his head, feeling suddenly excessively formal in the presence of this man. "My thanks, Fritz. Um - do you want me to do anything for the future? And what if I get a psychic pokemon?"

Fritz narrowed his eyes. "There is nothing much you could do on your journey currently. It would take months of diligent research in order to be able to overcome your mental ineptitude, months you do not have in your quest for the Indigo Conference. I may not see much but worry not about a psychic pokemon - all will come together in the end. I wish you well in your journey, Ash Ketchum. Your future holds a spark few can speak of."

The air hummed before Fritz just popped out existence, a low buzz in his ears the only sign anyone had ever been there. Ash blinked again - it felt like he was doing that a lot. But he just shook himself and thanked the air quietly for the lack of a headache. A distinct burst of amusement flashed through his mind.

At least that solved his problem. Now he had to find something to do for the next hour until he got his pokemon. Saffron City didn't have much on attractions, but a family had started a sort of gym they had tried to become Saffron City's official gym, though they had lost rather badly to Sabrina. He didn't quite remember what they trained or where they were located, but it was an hour until some of his team was ready if he wanted to challenge them, just a way to prove his skills.

His wanderings across town led him to one of the only short buildings in the entire town. Only two stories tall and made of thick wood instead of metal, it stuck out like a sore thumb. People walking the streets didn't look at it nor the strange man standing out in front, wearing white clothing and a black sash around his waist.

A black belt. He had obviously trained hard to earn it.

Intrigued, he walked closer. The man's attention snapped to him and he jumped into an easily practiced stance, barking out a greeting. "Welcome, good trainer! Do you wish to challenge the Dojo?"

"This is the gym?" He asked.

"Yes, the mighty Dojo! A place for fighting types to gain skill and succeed and a place for worthy foes to test their strength in a battle against our members! What say you?"

Ash grinned. A challenge. "Let me grab my team. I'll be back shortly." With that, he headed back to the Pokecenter.

He only had to wait a couple of minutes, five at the most, before his pokemon were ready. Nurse Joy looked a bit confused as his rush but once he explained, she understood and even gave him a tip - Apep was his best bet against the gym, not just because of typing. There was a reason they weren't the gym of Saffron City despite trying to be, as they often only used physical moves.

Thanking her, he turned to walk back out of Pokecenter and jogged back to the Dojo. He arrived quickly, and the man was still waiting for him. "Welcome challenger, to the Dojo! I shall fetch your opponent."

He walked inside. It was a little beat up on the inside, and as he touched the walls he could realize why - since it wasn't a city gym, they probably couldn't afford to have psychic barriers to protect their walls. Apep would be his fighter today to avoid Vulpix burning the entire building down.

A few people sparred over the small room, though the ceiling extended up pretty far to let flying types at least be able to move. All the fighters looked up as he walked in, stopping their spars. They all wore the same white clothes as the man outside with varying colors of belts on their waists. Definitely a Dojo.

A girl stepped forward, an orange belt over his waist. "Challenger, we have few rules. Beat me and you may fight against our master in order to prove your worth. It shall be a one on one for both battles. Machop, go!"

The superpower pokemon landed on the battlefield, barking and pounding its fists together. It grinned as Ash and stood ready on its side of the field, a low divot in the middle of the room.

Ash threw out Apep as a response. The snake hissed before looking at his opponent, and then he just hissed more. Ash hadn't had time to brief him but Apep was always ready for any sort of battle. It didn't hurt that the last time Apep had battled against a machop, he hadn't gotten the chance to win.

"Machop, Karate Chop!" She barked out, fists clenched by her side. "Keep to the right side. It might try and use its tail against you. If it tries, use Low Sweep to knock it off balance and finish it."

She was announcing her whole plan. Thankfully, he had a method against that. Apep didn't twitch as the blue pokemon began to run at him, waiting for instructions. Ash pursed his lips and whistled sharply.

Apep sprang into action, tail glowing silver as he slammed it into the ground and used the momentum to jump to the side. Machop ran past as a barrage of Poison Stings slammed into its back.

They were all perfectly sharp and all but two penetrated Machop's thick skin and began to inject poison. The girl frowned and clapped her hands, getting Machop's attention as it stopped trying to shake the needles out. "Don't focus on it! Go back and use constant Low Sweeps. Don't let it get close and chase it if it gets too far."

Byt the time she gave her list of instructions, the trill had already left Ash's lips and Apep was springing forward.

He sank purple fangs into Machop's shoulder, letting the pokemon shriek in pain as he pumped poison into his body. The girl screamed a command but Apep leaped back as Machop swung its fists wildly, trying to strike him while its eyes were squeezed closed in pain. "Acid, Apep. Aim for the chest," he said a bit lazily, leaning back.

A burst of bright red, sizzling poison shot through the air and slammed into Machop's chest. The girl whitened even as she recalled her pokemon before it even hit the ground, eyes closed and face blank.

"Good match," he offered, but it really hadn't been. He could understand why they hadn't gotten the chance to be the Saffron City gym, and it didn't hurt that Apep's strength was growing by leaps and bounds as he trained himself incredibly hard to try and be able to beat Ro after the nidorino had evolved.

She glared a bit darkly at him. "You have earned the right to challenge the Karate Master."

Another man stepped forward from the crowd of trainers. There was a very thick black belt over his white uniform but the most interesting thing about him was the brilliant bushy mustache over his face.

"Good fight, challenger! But how can you stand up to one of my best pokemon? This shall still be a one on one battle. Begin!" He had a very happy tone of voice and a jovial attitude even as he tossed out one of his pokeballs.

What came out was something he hadn't seen before in person or on a tv, but he knew the name. Hitmonchan were powerful fighters. Though their matches never lasted long with their minimal endurance, they could hit so incredibly hard that as soon as a pokemon got within reach of their punches, it wouldn't be a very long match anyway. It stood a couple of inches taller than him, throwing a few jabs to warm up as it stretched out all of its muscles. His muscles, actually - the reason that these pokemon were so rare was because of the fact they were completely a male species, which made it very difficult for them to find females of their same evolutionary line in order to breed.

Ash clucked his tongue at Apep, who turned his head around and nodded. He wasn't going to stop fighting - he hadn't even been hurt in the last match. He faced the Karate Master and nodded.

He and his fighting type bowed deeply to each other. They seemed much more intune with each other than the girl and her machop, and Ash was a little hesitant. Fighting types had very powerful attacks.

"Hitmonchan, Agility."

Ash whistled, but added another command behind it. "Apep, keep away from him. He'll hit you hard if you get close."

Hitmonchan flashed a deep pink and Ash say each of his muscles tense and then relax, shaking them out. Apep flicked his tongue out, golden eyes narrowed, before spitting out a cloud of Poison Stings.

Hitmonchan's eyes snapped open and he kicked against the ground, leaping into several cartwheels. The Poison Stings landed harmlessly on the ground. Ash frowned. With Agility, Hitmonchan would be almost too fast for Apep to catch with his ranged attacks. That meant he'd have to get close. "Apep, keep moving. He's too fast right now. If he gets close, nail him with whatever you want."

Apep hissed in response and began to slither over the ground, the two pokemon circling each other in the middle of the field. Hitmonchan moved very smoothly but Apep kept his speed up. He had to tire him out - that was one of the only ways to be able to beat the powerful fighting type.

The Karate Master had no intentions of letting that happen. "Mach Punch, then get up and use Close Combat!"

Hitmonchan flexed its shoulder and broke from the circle, lunging forward. Its speed was increased even more with the powerful move, fists glowing a pale red.

"Payback!" Ash barked. Fighting types weren't that strong against poison types - the poison in their blood absorbed the fighting type energy and manipulated it into their own, letting the move change to just a regular punch with a few extra bonuses - but he needed to start landing hits.

Hitmonchan slammed one fist into Apep's side, sending the ekans flying back into the back of the field. But his tail gleamed a pitch black and as Hitmonchan prepared to use Close Combat, Apep reared up and slammed his tail into his legs.

The pokemon yelped and fell over, though Apep had taken more damage from that event by hitting the ground. But as Hitmonchan stood back up, Ash could see it favor its right side - Apep's hit had weakened its legs.

"Keep attacking! Aim for the legs!" He called, grinning.

Hitmonchan glowed a flickering red as it used Close Combat. All of its hits would be stronger but Apep had a lot of chances to hit the pokemon as long as he could time it right. And Apep was ready, his tail glowing silver.

They sprang at each other. Hitmonchan blasted a fist down but Apep slithered out of the way, flicking his tail toward his right leg. It didn't connect as Hitmonchan jumped over it and slammed back down onto his back, fists glowing.

Breaking apart, they took a second and attacked each other again. Apep was getting blasted with a few hits but he had managed to hit Hitmonchan's leg a few more times, using his natural resistance to fighting types to be able to stay close and keep attacking.

The Karate Master threw in a few more commands, grinning. "Ice Punch! Freeze it to the ground!"

Hitmonchan's fist glowed a pale silver as frost crept over its gloves, but Ash had spent weeks training next to ice type energy and was able to not be frozen as he leapt out of the way. The hit slammed into the ground and created a slick patch of ice.

Apep hissed and retaliated with an Iron Tail.

The moment came as Hitmonchan tried to hit his face. Apep hissed and let his Iron Tail fail, a bright green shield springing into place as Protect blocked his attack.

Hitmonchan jerked back, shaking his fist. He lunged back but Apep reared. In a bust of power born from the battle, he shot a glob of bright, bright orange poison directly in Hitmonchan's face.

Ash cheered as the finally toxic enough Acid splattered over the fighting type's face and chest, pushing him down on his back. The pokemon yelped before his eyes fluttered shut and he passed out.

Apep visibly preened, shaking himself and glaring at the few bruises over his side. It had been a bit of a difficult battle but not too bad - and there had been one beautiful boon from it. Apep had finally produced enough toxic poison for Acid. He made eye contact before recalling him.

"Congratulations, worthy challenger! You have truly proven yourself in the eyes of the Dojo. Please accept our reward."

Another trainer brought forward a black case. "We may not be the official gym, but the League still does support us and our efforts to make the trainers of today stronger. So we can offer you this - a League-sanctioned Luxury Ball."

The case was full of indents, ten of them. Four were empty while the rest were full of black pokeballs with swirling golden lines over them. Luxury Balls were rather new inventions that helped pokemon feel more comfortable. Not that pokeballs were uncomfortable, but Luxury Balls were just more feel-happy for the pokemon. They were incredibly useful for upset, angry pokemon.

Grinning, he accepted one of the pokeballs. He didn't know when he'd be able to use it, but it would be an incredibly useful tool for later. "Thank you," he said. The Karate Master nodded back.

Ash left quickly. He had a pokemon to congratulate.

* * *

He walked up to his room, a key from Nurse Joy in his grip. Unlocking the door, he stepped inside. It took him about twenty seconds to unpack fully, dropping his clothes and bag on the ground as he changed quickly, hopping into the shower. About a week worth of dirt streamed off his body, and he emerged much happier and cleaner than he had been before. Though he ook dips in streams that he came by, it couldn't beat steaming water and soap. Slipping his clothes on, he grabbed Apep and Vulpix's pokeball and released them in the middle of his room.

Vulpix sniffed curiously at the room, scratching at the carpet with one paw. She unsheathed her claws and pawed at a tuft of carpet. Ash quickly threw a fireproof blanket under her tail as it flicked over the ground, a tiny ember spilling from the tip and nearly landing on the carpet.

"Hey guys! We're in Saffron City. Apep just won us a Luxury Ball at a fighting type dojo. Good job, bud." He grinned, stroking the ekans on his purple scales. Apep thrummed at his touch, flicking his rattle, which was shrinking with every passing day. He was getting close and Ash couldn't wait.

"But after this, we're going to go down to Vermillion City and defeat Surge. I don't know how many pokemon he uses in his battle so I'm going to mainly prepare you, Vulpix, and Ro," he explained, already preparing himself.

Apep immediately hissed, straightening up. Ash placed a hand on his forehead to calm him down, if only slightly.

"I'm sorry, bud. But right now, I don't want you getting too hurt. You know you don't have the endurance that Ro has and Vulpix is fast enough to be able to get away from any attacks that come for her. I'll get you stronger, don't worry. The next gym battle should be against Erika, a grass type. You'll be very strong against her and I promise you'll battle her," He tried, rubbing his scales.

It didn't seem to work. Apep hissed at him again.

"Here's how it will go. Surge will tell me how many pokemon he's going to have battle. It might be two, it might be three. If its three pokemon, I won't hesitate in putting you out. And you'll be battling a lot this week because I don't want Ro and Vulpix to get too sore - who knows, you might even evolve!"

Apep perked up at that. Ash laughed and brushed a hand over his side, pulling the snake to wrap around his chest in a position they hadn't done in the last couple of weeks because of traveling. Apep thrummed deep in his chest and laid his head on Ash's shoulder, where he stayed even as Ash organized the bed for Vulpix and got ready to sleep. It was a peaceful night for all of them.

* * *

"Ponyta, Flame Charge!" The boy shouted, fists clenched as he glared over the battlefield.

Ash stared over the fight. "Take it," he said a bit lazily. Vulpix grinned as the ponyta lunged at her, fire sparked from its mane and spreading over its body. She growled as the fire horse slammed into her side, but used her pain to slam her shadowed tails into the ponyta's side.

The horse squealed as it fell on its side, but Vulpix easily jumped through the burning remains of a Fire Spin the ponyta tried to trap her in. It hadn't done much except for to boost Vulpix's attacks, which she used to fire a Flamethrower point-blank into the ponyta's side and knocking the pokemon out.

Ash grinned, waiting a second as Vulpix roared out a wall of flame into the air to get rid of her extra heat before stroking her ears. The boy recalled his ponyta before handing over a couple hundred, stalking away.

Trainers on this route were often stronger than others he'd faced so far, but any fire type always lost to Vulpix and most everything else lost to Apep. he kept the two of them out as they were rather unthreatening, and he got a lot more challenges than if Siren had giggled viciously at everyone that walked past.

He had tried keep her out for just a little bit, at least until she darted into the forest and he barely managed to find her before she injected a rattata with her poison. He promised her food and had Apep snag the terrified pokemon from her grasp, releasing it back into the trees. She had chittered at him, a bit disappointed, but he had tried his best to get it into her mind that she couldn't hunt like she used to do.

Slipping the money into his pocket, he checked Vulpix over for any injuries. She had a light bruise over her side, but by coughing out a Will-O-Wisp and pressing it against the spot, she shrugged off the pain and felt fine.

He patted her head and started walking again, idly whistling for Apep to come back close to him. It would only be five more days until he reached Vermillion City, where he would show Surge who could beat him.

* * *

Late that night, a soft sound woke him up. It wasn't the crack of a pokeball breaking but it was such a similar situation to Siren's escape that he snapped to attention and shot to his feet, eyes wide.

Ro glanced up at him, but quickly turned back to his sleep. He obviously knew the sound and wasn't threatened by it. Vulpix didn't even wake, curled up inside of her fireproof blanket and dead to the world. Frillish was a bit on an odd sleeper - she attached herself to a tree via her tentacles and then just drifted off to sleep, arms floating by her side.

Apep wasn't on his chest.

He stood fully up, stretching his arms above his head. The moon shined down on the clearing, not even close to morning. If he could guess, it seemed to be around midnight, over three hours since he had finished training and fallen asleep.

Another sound went over the clearing, from an area only slightly beyond where he was sleeping. He grabbed his flashlight and his pokemon belt, attaching it to his waist. Maybe it was another pokemon?

It took him a couple of seconds to find the area where the sound was coming from. It was a weird, spitting hissing sound that he didn't recognize at first, but it quickly came to him as he turned around the side of a tree.

Apep sat in the middle of a clearing, shooting out bursts of fiery hot Acid onto the ground. The orange mixture sizzled against the ground, grass dying underneath the toxic substance.

The ekans snapped to attention as he rounded the corner, looking up at him with an almost guilty expression on his face. He spat out the last bits on an Acid he had been building up on his mouth, rearing up to look at Ash.

"Apep, what have you been doing?" He asked quietly, stepping forward. He had to be careful not to step in any of the splotches of Acid over the ground.

Actually, now he remembered a particularly sharp smell yesterday morning, though it hadn't lasted very long. And Apep had been tired that morning, though he had guessed it was from the battles from yesterday.

Apep ducked his head, slithering closer. He got close enough to poke his pokedex, keeping it up until Ash pulled it out, opening up his page. The back and forth continued for a little bit until Ash finally got to the page that Apep wanted him to be at - the one that listed all of his future moves.

Ash scrolled down up Apep stopped him. Gunk Shot.

He blinked as he looked it over. It was the most powerful poison type move that an ekans could learn, but there was a reason that Apep had struggled with Acid, which was much easier than Gunk Shot. His body just couldn't produce the amount of toxicity needed for that move.

"Apep, you know you don't have to try to learn that move, right?" He scanned the list once again. "This might take you weeks to be able to get the strength needed. Remember how long it took to be able to learn Acid?"

The snake shook his head again, golden eyes glinting with determination. He pointed toward the pokedex again, jabbing his nose at the page.

Ash sighed, reaching out and stroking over his head. "I can't say I understand, but I won't stop you. I'm guessing this is from Ro, evolving, am I right?" Apep looking away was an answer enough. "I promise I'll help you as much as you can, bud-"

Apep shook his head again.

Ash frowned. "You're going to learn this one on your own?"

A nod.

He nodded. "You can do that bud, but I have a few rules. You don't stay up all night. Since you already learned Acid I didn't really have you working on another move, so during regular training time you can work on Gunk Shot. I won't let you do this on your own - you don't quite know how to learn this except through instinct, and we'll need a little more than that, but I'll let you run the show."

Apep nodded determinedly, turning back to his clearing. Ash shook his head and patted his back. "Not tonight. You've got a lot of battles tomorrow and I don't want you to be too tired when that happens."

The snake looked a little miffed but agreed with him, turning back to where they were sleeping. They walked back together, trying their best not to disturb any of the other pokemon. Siren opened her eyes and peered at them and Ro was already awake by the time they had gotten within five feet. Vulpix didn't even move.

He curled back up on the ground, Apep slithering over to perch on his chest. He placed one hand over the snake's back, feeling the warmth from the scales pressing into his body from all sides. They'd get through this. All of them.

* * *

Ash grinned as he finally stepped into Vermillion City after a long week of traveling down the road. The port town smacked him over the face with the powerful sea breeze and hearty sun.

It only took me a couple of seconds to see a brilliant view of the ocean. Though he had seen it on the road to Vermillion, that had been a small section walled off by forests. This one was open and expansive and humbling, as well. He felt very small facing the quiet self of nature in a way the towering silver buildings of Saffron hadn't been able to make him. He stood there for a second, somber.

The sun still burned heavy overhead, only a little after noon. He'd taken a couple of extra hours the day before in order to get there halfway through the day so he wouldn't have to immediately go to sleep. He wanted to scout out the gym a little before challenging it. He wasn't risking it with Surge.

Vulpix headbutted his leg. He grinned and flicked her ears, chuckling at her glare. She pawed him again, pointing toward a heavyset stone building with an enormous lightning bolt made out of colored glass on the front. It was obviously the gym, though a bit more showy than the other ones.

But that wasn't what she was pointing at. No, her paw was angled toward a twisting line of trainers curved outside of the gym.

A scowl grew on his face. This was the second city that had way too long of a line, and Surge was honestly scary enough that people shouldn't be challenging him in such numbers. Trainers were more often spread out across the country because of the different locations they traveled from.

Well, he'd definitely wait to challenge tomorrow. Maybe if he got there early enough in the morning the line would be small enough.

He made a motion to head into the city, where he'd go to the Pokecenter, when a young trainer exploded out of the doors. The two guards on either side smirked down as the kid ran out, clutching a pokeball. There were tears in his eyes as he ran past Ash, shoving him to get to the Pokecenter faster.

Ash froze, watching him run. Maybe he'd check out the gym before challenging it tomorrow.

Trainers in the line grumbled as he passed them, a few even shouting for him to stop cutting in line. He didn't pay attention to them, heading up to the doors.

The two guards stared down at him, a seemingly permanent smirk frozen onto their face. One girl, one boy, both much taller and older than him. If he had to guess, they were probably only one, maybe two years older than fifteen, the age limit for League-paid trainers. Most people got jobs after that.

"What do you need, kid?" The girl said, resting a hand on her hip. He looked up at her, heckles raising at her condescending tone. "Must be important to be cutting everyone."

"Are we allowed to watch the matches?"

She exchanged a look with the other trainer, a smirk on both their faces. "Well. A coward as well as a baby. I guess you're allowed in, but don't expect a gold star for your effort." A sneer was obvious on her voice and face.

They opened the doors a crack, letting him slip through before slamming it closed on his heels. He grimaced, but pushed it out of his mind for now.

His eyes didn't have to adjust at all. The gym was brightly lit, with a heavily packed dirt battlefield. There were no decorations either in the gym or the field, just a blank slate with thrumming psychic barriers.

As well as a challenger.

A girl stood on the side closest to him, fists clenched and eyes wild. "Dodge! Dodge!" She barked, voice furious. A charmeleon on the field desperately dug its claws into the ground, trying to get a grip to run away, but the raichu on the other side of the field merely sparked its cheek pockets and fired a brilliant bolt of lighting toward the fleeing pokemon. The electricity was strong enough to have sparks burst behind his eyes despite how he tried to blink them away.

He didn't have to look to see that charmeleon was knocked out. She recalled it before fleeing toward the doors, holding them closely to her chest.

The girl had come in only two minutes before him, and had all of her pokemon knocked out in that short of time?

He looked at the raichu, which looked up at a hulking shadow of a man on the other side of the room. Surge was enormous, even from a distance, his biceps nearly as large as Ash's entire head. He pat Raichu on the head, ignoring the sparks that must have raced up his arm, before looking back over the field. The man showed no care for the trainer who's pokemon he had just crushed.

His resolve built. He turned around and walked back out of the gym, brushing past the two trainers who smirked down at him. If he was going to do anything, he had to heal up his pokemon first.

* * *

"So," Ash tried to say as quickly as possible. Nurse Joy seemed to be swamped in people asking for her to heal their pokemon. "What's with the number of trainers? I thought most people stayed away from Surge."

Nurse Joy glared at the mere mention of the man. "Oh, normally, they do! But the League decided that with the new SS Anne taking off soon, they need more publicity. So Surge is giving out free tickets to whoever can beat him. In order to stop random trainers from just getting every ticket, he's been battling up a level. So whatever pokemon he should be battling you with, he actually does it one above or maybe more in order to try and beat you. A bunch of trainers have come in here with pokemon that need two to three days to recover, and then another week until the soreness is gone. He's been kicking every hopeful to the curb and it'll only go on for another month until the ship leaves."

He perked up. "What's the SS Anne?"

She smiled at him, but it was stressed. "I'm afraid I can't give you a full description right now. I'm just a little bit busy at the moment - there should be a few League pages on the website."

Nodding his head, he handed her his pokeballs. "Thanks."

Frowning, he closed his pokedex and sat back on his bed. He'd given up exploring in order to research, and was very happy he did so.

The SS Anne was an incredibly large luxury cruiser. It could hold tons of passengers and had rooms right in the la of luxury, which every possible thing needed in them. It was welcome to both trainers who wanted to go to a new area as well as rich people just enjoying their wealth, with its several different levels of rooms. First class, of course, with a billion special things that only money could buy. But there were trainer rooms with much smaller rooms and fewer bonuses, but it was still the SS Anne with all of its brilliance. But that wasn't what had people's attention.

A breeder had made an agreement with the ship, and had given two very special pokemon for a tournament that was taking place on board. None of the websites said what those pokemon were, but they were rare, had great potential to be powerful, and couldn't be found in Kanto. Tournaments were few and far between, especially ones with such great prizes as actual rare pokemon, so it was what everyone had to do to try and be a part of them. And since it was on a boat, he could also go to Cinnabar Island for a couple of days, where there would be plenty of challenges and pokemon to catch.

And did he mention the tournament? An incredible new pokemon that he could win. But only if he beat Surge.

He set his pokedex back on his belt, laying down on the bed. His mind already raced with strategies.

Next morning, he was challenging Surge. And he wasn't going to lose.

* * *

Ash walked down the street, the darkness of the sky pressing down. It was before the sun rose but he had been twitchy all night and couldn't wait to get up. Nurse Joy hadn't taken over her post yet but the woman manning the station had been happy to give him his pokemon as well as a pointer.

Surge's raichu was his trump card, and he needed to pull out all of his stops in order to beat the pokemon.

But he was ready. All of his pokemon had been briefed, even Siren. With the tournament coming soon and Surge on full offensive, he had no idea what kind of battle it would be. So he just hoped for the best.

A few people wandered around and he could see another trainer from the Pokecenter dogging on his heels, but he determinedly sped up and left them behind. He wasn't waiting in another two hour line like he had back in Cerulean City. If he lost to Surge, he wanted enough time to figure out what had gone wrong to challenge him again tomorrow. He seriously wanted a ticket.

He loitered outside the dark gym for about ten minutes, running over strategies in his mind. A few other trainers joined him but he was very clear to be the one in front. He didn't want to give Surge any reason to be already warmed up by the time they fought. His hands danced over his pokeballs.

Finally, the doors cracked open and the two guards from before marched outside and stood to attention on either side. They stared down at him, raising an eyebrow in synchronization. It was almost creepy.

"Finally want to fight, or are you going to chicken out again?" The boy asked, crossing his arms. Six pokeballs gleamed on his waist.

He nodded his head. "I want to fight."

The girl chuckled. "Have fun, mincemeat." She pulled the door open and let him through the crack.

Ash walked inside the bright gym, stepping toward the battlefield. There was a steady hum beneath his feet and he guessed they must come from feeding stations. Being an electric type gym, Surge must have to feed enough of his pokemon that he just got an electric generator somewhere below him.

Surge stood up on the other side of the field. The lights were bright enough and he was close enough to get his first real look of the man.

Or the giant. That was the better word for the seven foot tall, heavily ripped, and tanned man standing across from him. Ash was shorter by a good two and a half feet, and boy did he not like it.

Surge - Lt. Surge, he reminded himself, this man had fought in wars beyond his understanding - was made more from chiseled stone than flesh and bone. Army shirt, cargo pants, combat boots - everything about him screamed strong. The crack from his knuckles echoed in the gym.

Ash straightened his shoulders and forced steel into his voice. "My name is Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town and I'm here to challenge you for a Thunder Badge."

Surge grinned as he stepped forward, shaking his arms to relieve built up tension. "I remember you, runt. Showed up yesterday, didn't you? Watch first, fight later. Glad I didn't scare you away - it'll be nice to let Raichu beat the snot out of your pokemon."

At his words, the form of his electric type emerged from the shadows, easily leaping up to land on his shoulder. It had to weigh at least sixty pounds but Surge didn't even blink, the lightning bolt shaped tail darting around his arm.

"How many badges, baby?"

"Two. I'll make it three soon enough," Ash challenged.

Surge just raised an eyebrow. "We'll see about that. Pokemon?"

"I've got four right now," he said, a little bit apprehensive. Brock had asked the same thing but Surge already had six pokeballs on his waist, not including Raichu.

He grunted. "Alright. Four on four. Get ready." He chucked his first pokeball onto the field, still grinning widely, before Ash could even try and convince him to go lower. It exploded in a burst of scarlet.

What emerged was something Ash was familiar with. A silver body with two magnets as arms, several screws placed a bit haphazardly around its single eye. The magnemite sparked angrily, seemingly not capable of noise other than buzzes of electricity.

Ash frowned. A four on four was something he had considered but prayed again, but he probably wouldn't get his wish. What he'd try to do was get rid of Surge's other pokemon using mainly Vulpix and Ro, then he'd throw Apep at Raichu. If he could, he'd try to avoid using Siren, but he would if he needed to.

But Magnemite… he grinned. A steel and electric type. Well, he had a certain someone who shouldn't find it too difficult. He tossed his pokeball.

Vulpix emerged, growling furiously. She already knew exactly what was happening and the sight of Magnemite only narrowed her eyes farther.

Surge yawned. "Oh, typical typical. A fire type for my steel type. This'll be over easy. Magnemite, Thunder Shock the little shit."

Ash grinned. Surge had just sealed his pokemon's fate. No matter how warm and gentle Vulpix was normally, she was still a fire type, and the pride that ran through her body almost as strong as her inner flame was a dangerous thing to insult. He could see her anger rise as the very air began warming up. "You can't hit it while it's flying, girl. Fire Whip - get it down and hit it hard."

Magnemite crackled with electricity, its magnets glowing, but Vulpix was born for fire and speed. She spat out four busts of fire and turned around, launching one above Magnemite's head.

It sparked, drifting closer to the ground. Another exploded to its right and then another by its left, Vulpix's aim deadly perfection. Magnemite buzzed and lowered down to nearly Vulpix's height, releasing its burst of electricity to slam into Vulpix's side.

She growled in pain, her last Will-O-Wisp popping out of existence, but Ash was already shouting. She hadn't been hit with much electricity before and hadn't had any time to try and resist muscle cramping even from moves that didn't normally cause paralysis. "Payback! Make it count!"

Vulpix twirled in a circle, tails glowing a shadowed black. She leapt rather daintily into the air and slammed Payback right into Magnemite's head.

It crackled with pain, pushed closer to the ground. Vulpix turned back around, snarling and paws tensed.

Ash gave her control. "Burn it, Vulpix!" There was no point in telling Surge that the incredibly powerful move she was about to use was just Flamethrower, and the man might expect recoil or exhaustion from moves like Inferno that he could use to his advantage, only for Ash to rub it in his stupid face.

Vulpix barked to confirm before spitting a stupidly powerful Flamethrower point blank in Magnemite's face.

Surge blinked as the wave of fire crackled through the air, burning the ground and crumbling away divets in the dirt underneath her paws. It took a couple of seconds for the fire to fade and Vulpix had already jumped in, cauterizing her wound from Thunder Shock and pulling her concentration away from her pain.

To Ash's surprise, Magnemite was still conscious. But a little memory and he realized why - its ability was probably Sturdy, which gave it such a strong force of will that it tanked through incredibly powerful attacks in order to stay conscious just long enough to land another hit.

Unfortunately for it and Surge, Vulpix wasn't going to give it that chance. A smug look on her face, she spat an Ember at its closest magnet. With a final buzz of defeat, Magnemite collapsed to the ground.

Surge looked more than a little surprised as he recalled his pokemon, but he eventually exploded with laughter. "Well then! Guess your little vulpix has some fangs on her after all. That was a mistake I won't make again."

But the man's eyes narrowed as he finally looked over Vulpix, seeing her missing tails and the scar over her front foot. There was a hearty question in his eyes but he had some respect, holding it off for later.

The next pokemon on the battlefield was a voltorb. They were rather common pokemon, but few trainers ever caught them - mainly because of their habit of exploding forcefully whenever they felt threatened. Just about no pokemon could stay conscious after the move Explosion, not even the voltorb themselves.

They were just basic spheres, red on top and white on bottom. Its nasty disposition showed as it narrowed its eyes, sparking dangerously and making the air hum and crackle with electricity.

Vulpix roared back, slamming her front paws into the ground. Fire burst into life under her touch, greedily smacking at the air. He could feel the overwhelming heat even through the psychic barriers, sweat gleaming on the top of his brow. Steam crawling upward as she evaporated any hint of water inside of the field, and even Voltorb looked nervous at her display of strength.

Surge's body shook with laughter, Raichu easily weathering it by gripping his head. He slammed his fists together, leaning forward to watch the battle. "Well now! She's got some heat to her. But will it hold up in battle?"

Ash nodded back determinedly. "She's no pushover, Surge. But I'll let her show you that. Vulpix! Don't hold back this time. Burn the field with Fire Spin!"

"Charge then Spark, Voltorb," Surge called. "Keep using Charge when you stop. Swift when she stops."

Voltorb rumbled, body beginning to crackle with electricity. Charge worked by building up energy but not releasing it, keeping almost dangerous amounts ready to attack but kept inside. When timed right, moves boosted by Charge could be exceedingly hard to come back from. But Voltorb wasn't fast - and Vulpix was the definition of it.

She growled, springing into action. Her paws ripped up dirt, blackening it to a crisp before she had even taken her next step. He had said don't hold back, and she didn't show any signs of disobeying.

Fire bloomed behind her tails as she ran, sitting happily upon the ground and sucking down oxygen. With another burst of speed, she began to circle Voltorb, keeping close to press the heat against him. In only a few seconds, a burning ring of fire was quickly spreading toward the pokemon.

Surge frowned. "Spark, then use Rollout to get out of there."

Voltorb flashed once, electricity rising off of its body like an actual cloud, before firing like a bolt of lightning toward the Fire Spin. But Vulpix was practically invisible in the flames and it missed her by a mile, slamming into the psychic barriers with enough force to make them visible for a second.

But it avoided being burned by using Rollout, where it rolled out of the Fire Spin and rocketed toward the corner closest to Surge. By using a rock type move, which is resistant to fire, it had a much lower chance of being burned and managed to avoid it completely. Vulpix looked upset.

Ash grinned, a plan to cheer her up coming to him. "Vulpix! Flamethrower! Burn the whole field!"

She grinned as best she could as she spat out waves upon waves of fire over the field, forcing Voltorb into a tiny corner by Surge. It was tiring her but that problem was fixed as she jumped into her own flames, Flash Fire boosted her Flamethrower until Surge's entire side was in a mass of flames.

After a second, there was only a burning field of fire on Surge's side, the only sound the crackling of flames. Ash frowned. Vulpix normally got out of there, unless she was going to use Flame Body.

The fire died slightly and gave Ash a view of Surge's grinning face. "Voltorb! Use Charge Beam!"

Ash paled, cupping his hands around his mouth. "Vulpix! Out of there!" But as the smoke clear, he saw she couldn't.

Voltorb always had a constant stream of electricity over their shells, at least the ones with ability Static. Like this one obviously did. Vulpix had gone in for the attack and had been promptly paralyzed. She was frozen on the side near Surge, tails twitching as a current of electricity raced over her fur.

Voltorb shook itself, opened its mouth, and fired a brilliant stream of electricity directly in Vulpix's face.

She yelped, slammed backward until she hit the psychic barriers. More energy crackled over her fur but the pain of the move had shocked her out of paralysis, which was what she needed. Her moves were jerky but her eyes were narrowed in a fury that had Voltorb rolling away from her furious growls.

"Quick Attack then Ember! We need to end this!" He shouted, fists clenched. If she could take down Voltorb, then that might be enough for his other pokemon to take down Surge's other two.

Vulpix yowled with pain but forced herself to run, the movement getting rid of the last sparks of electricity. She blurred as the move enhanced her speed, sending her rocketing toward Voltorb.

It had no chance to dodge. The Flamethrower Vulpix had used over the entire field had burned it to the point moving was painful and with every passing second it was getting more and more injured. Eventually it would be grounded, just able to shoot off powerful moves but unable to dodge. He wanted to stop it before it even got to that stage.

A stream of embers smacked it right in the face, sending it rolling away with a shriek of pain. Vulpix lunged after it again, slamming her tails into its back with Tail Whip and firing it toward the psychic barriers. It hit them hard and didn't get back up, eyes rolled back into its head.

Surge laughed once again, easily recalling Voltorb. "Two down to your one, and she's still not knocked out? Color me impressed, baby. You've got power, that's easy to see, but do you have speed as well?"

The third pokemon on the field was probably the worst matchup for Vulpix right now.

It was short and a brilliant bright yellow, its fur spiky and sticking out in every direction. A white tuft was around its neck, the tips quivering as electricity jumped between the sharp furs. It barked loudly, turning to look over its shoulder at Surge.

Vulpix was fast, there was no denying that. But she was already injured and recovering from paralysis. Even at her best, she couldn't beat a jolteon that was ready to battle. They were one of the fastest pokemon ever.

Surge grinned at Ash's frustrated expression. "I do enjoy sheer power, boy, but I train electric types. They aren't built to take hits - although magnemite and the line do a bit better than most. You'll find quite the challenge in Jolteon here. I daresay we'll even wipe the floor with you."

Ash gritted his teeth. It would be a hard fight but he had to knock Jolteon out in order to get to Raichu and then knock that out. His best bet would normally be Ro, as he had the thickest skin and could take the most hits. But with how fast Jolteon was, Ash didn't think Ro would be able to hit the pokemon in the slightest. That left Apep and Siren. Siren would just get constantly shocked until she was out. Her Restore wouldn't last forever and Jolteon could probably shock her out of the recovering move. That left Apep, but he needed to give the snake an extra advantage.

"Vulpix! Can you fight for a little longer?" He called to her.

She was eyeing the Jolteon with a look that suggested she'd rather throw it off a cliff, but that was her pain talking. Looking over her shoulder, she barked at him and turned back to face the pokemon. She could keep fighting.

Ash bit his lip. She said she could keep going but he only barely entertained the idea that she would be able to knock out Jolteon. It would just be too fast. As much as he didn't like it, Vulpix was going to just try and weaken it as much as possible for Apep to knock it out. That meant slowing it down.

"Vulpix! Flamethrower, then Fire Whip. Aim for the legs. We need to slow it down," he said as quietly as possible. Surge didn't need to know what he was doing. Vulpix's ears twitched back to show she had heard him before firing a burst of flames at Jolteon.

Ash winced. It was barely half of what she normally did. She was seriously in pain.

But Jolteon still barked and leapt out of the way, easily beginning to run around the battlefield. Ash couldn't believe how fast it was - the pokemon wasn't even using any moves, just running normally, and it already was blurring as it picked up speed.

Vulpix spat out balls of fire and turned around, ready to slam them with her tail, when Surge barked his command. "Thunder Fang!"

Jolteon leaped from the battlefield, eyes narrowed and jaws filled with crackling lightning. Vulpix fell on her back to try and dodge and spat a burst of fire just as Jolteon bit down.

She shrieked as electricity raced over her body, twitching before falling still on the field. The move had been too much for her. Ash sighed but recalled her, holding her pokeball close to his face. "You did great, girl. Knocking out two of Surge's pokemon and injuring a third. I couldn't ask for any better from you."

Jolteon gagged on the field, a trickle of smoke escaping from its mouth. It had bitten right down on a fireball before attacking Vulpix and the heat had probably burnt a bit of its mouth, which would make it very difficult to perform Thunder Fang correctly. That was good, because that move had been way too powerful.

Surge frowned before looking up at Ash, grinning. "Well, that was over fast. Next pokemon! Let's see what you got!"

Apep appeared in a burst of scarlet on the field, hissing furiously. The warmth left over from Vulpix's attacks obviously made him comfortable and the bright lights made his scales shine. He rattled, spitting out a glob of poison in a sign of strength. Jolteon looked suitably unimpressed as it jogged back over to Surge, twitching its ears.

"Apep, Jolteon is fast. Ro wouldn't be able to even hit it, but I believe in you. Don't let it get any hit in that you could avoid," Ash called, tensing his stance over the ground. Apep flicked his tail to confirm, narrowing his eyes.

Surge grinned. "Jolteon, Agility. Don't let it see you. Use Shock Wave and burn this baby out."

Ash's eyes narrowed. Shock Wave was a move that never missed unless countered, the electricity bound for pokemon's natural energy. It was hard to train pokemon to use the move as unless they mastered control, the Shockwave would rebound and hit them instead. "The attacks will change direction to try and hit you," he warned, keeping his voice to a minimum.

Apep nodded and coiled tightly up, aiming narrowed golden eyes toward Jolteon. The pokemon just yipped, flashing brightly before zipping off with such speeds that made Vulpix's fastest run look like a jog.

A ray of crackling energy appeared from somewhere, but Ash whistled, loud and piercing. Surge blinked but Apep just fired a barrage of needles at the attack and it disappeared. The electricity couldn't survive a solid hit to its core and disappeared into the air.

Jolteon yipped and another Shock Wave shot toward Apep, who reared and fired another Poison Sting to block it. This continued for a while until Apep finally missed and the Shock Wave slammed into his chest.

He hissed furiously. Jolteon immediately jumped out of Agility, lunging forward to have its fur stand right up. It crackled with electricity as it shot a Thunder Shock right at Apep's back, and he wasn't able to dodge. Jolteon lunged right back into Agility, darting around the battlefield with Surge smirking over them.

"Your snake is fast, kid, I'll give you that," he offered, still grinning. "But Jolteon hasn't even started yet. Quick Attack and Thunder!"

Apep managed to get right side up just as Jolteon lunged at him, fur snapping and crackling. A burning white-hot light built in its throat just as Apep glared furiously and spat a cloud of bubbling Acid.

Jolteon shrieked as the poison sizzled against its fur, cutting off its move before it could fire. A few drops got into its open mouth, irritating the burnt skin even more. Apep slithered back and managed to avoid Jolteon slamming into the ground with Quick Attack, eyes closed in pain. Iron Tail smashed into the back of Jolteon's head.

Ash cheered as Apep slithered back, hissing angrily as Jolteon struggled to its feet, shaking off a bit of the poison. But it was most definitely poisoned, and rather heavily. All of Apep's hard work had come to fruition. Jolteon would definitely be slower now and he had put the match on a time limit.

No matter which pokemon he sent out next, they could either float or were immune to poison. "Acid the whole field, Apep! Try to get as much as you can before Jolteon recovers enough!"

Apep grinned before firing off waves upon waves of the toxic poison, splashing it over the ground. Using that amount of Acid would definitely put a strain on his body as it was so much more toxic than the stuff he normally produced, it could potentially poison Raichu as well once he got out on the field.

It took Jolteon a couple more seconds to get to its feet, and then another couple to recover enough to start moving. It nimbly dodged a burst of Acid but even as it moved away from that, it found very little room to run.

Apep had done his job well. Mostly the entire field was covered in patches of steaming poison with only a small section where Jolteon was standing. He was panting hard but after a few second, regained his breath.

Jolteon, on the other hand, looked worse for wear. It growled at Apep, the air popping sluggishly, but now it was limited to ranged attacks.

Surge frowned, narrowing his eyes. "Jolteon, Shock Wave it. Don't let up until it's knocked out."

Apep fired off Poison Stings to block the Shock Waves, and each time it got easier as Jolteon got weaker and weaker from the poison. They had gone it perfectly - get Jolteon trapped, unable to use its speed, then poison it strongly and keep it under the wraps until the poison knocked it out.

Surge realized it as well. "Jolteon, Last Resort! Burn it all!"

Ash cursed. Last Resort was exactly as its name suggested - one last-ditch effort to stop the other pokemon. It sucked all of the energy around it from other moves into the pokemon's body before releasing it in a ball of furious energy.

But he knew how to defend against that. He waited until Jolteon had sucked in a glowing ball of pure energy shining as white as the sun before shouting, "Apep, Protect!"

Surge growled in frustration as Jolteon fired Last Resort just to have it slam into a green shield. Cracks spread over the surface even as Apep glared at it and tried to keep it stable, but the final burst of Last Resort faded away with Apep escaping unharmed. Jolteon sighed and fell over, unconscious.

Ash grinned. "Great job, Apep! Only one more to go!"

Surge nodded his head. "Not bad, kid. That ekans ain't too bad, though I doubt it'll last much longer. Raichu! Get out there."

Raichu chittered in his ear before leaping off of his shoulder, landing on the ground with a soft thud. It walked forward, jumping through the psychic barriers and landing on one clean area, staring at the Acid with an annoyed expression.

Apep rattled his tail, narrowing his eyes. He wasn't going to lose to an overgrown rodent of all things. Ash wasn't so sure - Raichu carried a power about it that Surge's other pokemon just didn't have. Electricity casually bounced over its fur, zapping along its tail and sparking off its ears.

He had three pokemon to tackle Raichu with and a field covered in poison he could use to his advantage. Everything was fine.

Surge grinned at him. "Kid, did you know that poison has remarkably similar qualities to water? Why, it's even a great conductor!"

Ash whitened.

"Zap it."

Raichu grinned, cheeks sparking. It casually raised one hand and slammed it in the closest patch of Acid.

Electricity crackled through the pools of poison, reaching Apep who was coiled in one large area. He shrieked as the power crackled through his body, twitching and writhing until he managed to slide out of the poison. Apep managed to rise back up, one last current racing over his scales. The glare he sent at Raichu couldn't be described in mortal words. Raichu seemed less than concerned.

"Iron Tail. Get that poison out of your way. Then enjoy yourself," Surge grinned, which Raichu returned.

Its thin tail glowed silver, much brighter than Apep's did. It turned around and whipped it around the poison, the steel type of the move preventing it from being poisoned. After only a few seconds, there was a clean-ish path toward Apep, who was still twitching from electricity. Raichu nimbly dodged any specks of poison and darted toward Apep, who had no way to dodge.

Raichu's Thunder Punch met the green shield of Protect. Apep glared furiously at him from beneath it, baring purple fangs. Raichu shook its hand to get rid of the shock of hitting Protect before launching another Thunder Punch.

This time, the Protect broke and Apep was knocked out.

Ash sighed and recalled his starter, murmuring congratulations through the pokeball. "Great job, bud. That Raichu wouldn't have stood a chance if you weren't already tired and injured."

Surge grinned, crossing his arms. Raichu copied his motions. They seemed much more together than his other pokemon, with only a few actually worded commands and the rest just instinct.

With a grimace, he threw Siren's pokeball out on the field. She appeared dramatically, chittering warmly as she stared over the field. Despite being at the disadvantage, she didn't seem threatened by Raichu.

Surge raised an eyebrow. "A rare water type, but a water type none the less. Raichu, have at it."

Raichu grinned and rubbed its paws together, cheek pacs sparking brightly as it flexed its tail. Siren chittered a bit more angrily, flicking her tentacles. A hunger burst inside of her eyes, her ghost type coming forward.

Ash swallowed hard. If Siren could just weaken it enough, then Ro could possibly handle it the rest of the way. But there was a problem in doing this - he had to reign her in for every battle he had fought so far. He had to trust Raichu's strength to be able to brush her off if she got too angry. "Siren, do whatever you want. I just need you to weaken it as much as you can."

She hissed darkly over the field just as Raichu fired an immensely powerful Thunderbolt at her, though there didn't seem to be any strain on it. With a growl, she fired a Night Shade back just as fast, the two attacks exploding in mid-air, covering the field in light smoke. Immediately after, she floated high in the air just as Raichu lunged up beneath her, fists crackling with electricity.

Siren barely dodged Thunder Punch yet couldn't avoid the Shock Wave Raichu fired as it was falling. She caterwauled as she was smacked by the move, energy crackling over her pink body.

"You have to slow it down! That's the only way to beat it!" Ash shouted. "Remember our first night!"

She blinked at him with crimson eyes before understanding shot through her eyes. A growl split the air as Raichu glared up at her from below, unable to reach her with physical attacks.

But that didn't mean it didn't have attacks. Cheek sparking, it fired another Thunderbolt into the air.

Siren fell from the air in order to avoid it, chittering angrily at Raichu. The mouse seemed very unthreatened by her, which honestly made sense. The Thunderbolt rocketed towards the ceiling, barely managing to be caught by the psychic barriers, only a fraction of the pokemon's power. But Ash grimaced as Siren narrowed her eyes.

Surge frowned as he saw Ash's face, but the boy just hunched his shoulders and looked away for a second. He had given full reign to Siren and would deal with the consequences.

Something pounded in his ears.

Ghostly energy trickled away from Siren's arms, dulling the air and making the brilliant flashes of electricty from Racihu's cheeks seem faded, weaker. Wind crept over the room, burning and bubbling in the air as Siren released her power with a dark hiss of fury. Raichu narrowed its black eyes, tail twitching, stomping one foot on the ground.

Siren bared her shark teeth and raised her arms. A last current of electricity raced over her face, but the ghost type energy seeping from her eyes sucked it away. Her arms gleamed with shadows, grey and fierce and writhing.

Night Shade slammed intot he ground next to Raichu. It jumped, slamming its fists together, a ball of electricity formed between its paws, crackling darkly. It launched the Electro Ball at Siren, who blocked the attack with her second Night Shade.

The two moves exploded against each other, a shockwave rippling over the room. A cloud of ghostly energy started to fill the room, a few beams of escaping electricity flickering through the grey.

Siren disappeared from view. Surge leaned forward slightly, eyes narrowed.

Raichu shrieked with fury and ran out of the cloud of energy. Blood dripped out of a gaping wound on its shoulder, though the pain didn't seem to faze it much. Scarlet mixed with the bright yellow fur.

Siren floated up out of the cloud, blood dripping from her shark teeth. Her eyes burned.

"Finish this," Surge barked.

Night Shades slammed into the ground, launched endlessly from Siren's flashing arms. Her tentacles glowed as well and launched their own, weakened, attack. Ghostly energy crackled around the room.

Raichu was struck several times, one particularlly nasty attack drawing another hint of blood. But at that point, it was over. It was just too strong and though Siren had attacked it with all she had, there wasn't much hope.

She paused for just a second, beginning to exhaust herself with the endless moves. A second later and a Thunderbolt slammed Siren into the ground.

She shrieked, frozen against the ground. Raichu chuckled in a remarkably human-sounding way before stepping forward, but Siren began to glow. Her Restore was sloppy with pain but the majority of her injuries faded to a point that she could ignore them, slowly rising back up.

Surge narrowed his eyes. "Nice party trick, but that won't do much of anything. Raichu, get to roasting."

Siren shrieked with rage and launched an endless wave of Night Shades from her arms, releasing them one after another with little accuracy but lots of power. A few slammed into Raichu as it tried to dodge but it managed to leap around the others, body glowing with the light of Agility.

Another Thunderbolt and Siren was out.

She was quickly recalled. "You did a great job, Siren. Raichu is finally weak enough for us to defeat it."

Surge grinned, cracking his knuckles, but something dark was in his eyes. "That frillish doesn't know her limits or other pokemon's. You need to control it. Let's see your final pokemon!"

Ro appeared on the field with a roared challenge. His barbs extended fully out, clicking softly. He bellowed low in his chest, stomping his feet and sending waves of Acid through the air.

Raichu shifted slightly to dodge them. It had done well so far to avoid the Acid, but now he had Ro on the field. The way he was going to win was through poisoning and surviving all of Raichu's hits.

"Toxic Spikes, bud! All over the field!"

Ro reared up and opened his mouth before frowning. He fell back onto all fours as the spines over his back glowed a dark purple, suddenly firing out a wave of poison that hardened in mid-air.

Ash blinked. Well, okay. Sometimes the way pokemon used moves changed as they evolved, though he probably should have tested that. The Toxic Spikes shot through the air, thudding over the ground.

Raichu winced as one landed on its shoulder, sinking into the bite wound, pumping powerful poison into its blood. Finally, he had a time limit. He needed to finish this up fast. "Ro, Ice Beam! Don't stop."

Ro rumbled and opened his mouth, barely taking half a second to fire off three glowing beams of ice energy that were weaker than normal but much faster to fire. Raichu chittered and rushed to the side.

Raichu flickered, mouth opening and firing off a brilliant beam of solid electricity. Thunderbolt was far too strong for Ash's liking.

It slammed into Ro's side, but the nidorino was heavy enough he just shifted back a few feet before launching another Ice Beam, three ice streams blasting toward Raichu. It dodged one.

Two hit.

Raichu hissed with pain as a major section of its chest was frozen by the move, though it easily punched the ice with its hand glowing a pale red with the move Brick Break. Made sense for Surge to have loaded his pokemon up with TMs.

"Horn Attack, Ro! We need to end this now!" Ash called, fists clenched. The battle was lasting too long, even with Raichu being poisoned. The pokemon just had too many ways to injure Ro.

Ro lumbered forward, horn glowing softly. Raichu sidestepped him, forced to use Agility in order to be fast enough. Thunder Punch slammed into Ro's back, electricity crackling over his hide.

His thick hide. Ro shuffled back and slammed his horn into Raichu's chest.

It shrieked, thrown backward at least ten feet. As it stood up again, Ash could see a hole punched through its chest, yellow fur stained a light red. Ro's attack had broken skin and had probably pumped even more poison into his chest.

Surge knew that as well. "Raichu, end this. Volt Tackle."

Ash paled. "Ro! Brace yourself!"

Ro rumbled darkly and lowered his head, horn gleaming. He dug his short silver claws into the ground, shaking his head and extending his barbs even farther.

Raichu flickered with electricity, energy jumping and racing over its form. Its eyes narrowed to slits as its cheeks crackled and its tail straightened, ready to run. Volt Tackle would either make or break this match.

Ro stared at him, eyes narrowed. His muscles tensed, ready to take the hit. There wasn't anything he could do to stop it and Ash was completely relying on his thick hide and kingsize bulk.

Raichu blinked out of existence as it ran forward, the only sound the hiss and pop of electricity. Ash caught a single glance of a yellow form before Raichu slammed into Ro with the force of a train.

Ro bellowed and fell over, voice high and scratchy in pain. Electricity crackled over his body before running into the ground through his claws which were dug into the dirt, though he was twitching heavily as Raichu bounced back.

But he was still conscious, though panting heavily and his entire face covered in an enormous bruise.

Raichu, on the other hand, let out a low sigh and fell onto its back, eyes rolling back into the back of its skull.

Ash stared over the field for a second before his face split into a wide grin. He had defeated Surge. He had won the Thunder Badge. He had gotten a ticket to the SS Anne! He had won!

Surge chuckled softly, recalling Raichu with a grin. "Well runt, you certainly showed me wrong! I didn't think you'd be able to get past my Raichu. That nidorino of yours certainly as some power and your vulpix has some fangs I didn't see coming from a little guy like that. I didn't get to see much but whistling for you ekans isn't a half-assed idea."

Ash grinned and rushed onto the field, helping Ro get back onto his feet. The nidorino looked very bad off, so he just hugged him around the neck. "You did it, bud. You beat Surge's Raichu!"

Ro rumbled lowly at him, before pointing his pokeball. Ash got the message and quickly recalled him.

Surge coughed to get his attention. "Runt, that was a good battle. Here's your badge."

It looked a bit like a sun, made of a bright yellow crystal that was slightly see through. He held it, marveling over the surface. _Lt Surge_ was carved into the back as well as _Vermillion City Gym_.

"And here's your ticket to the SS Anne."

Ash took it with almost reverence, holding the slightly crumpled piece of paper tight in his hands. There wasn't much on it, just a League-certified stamp and an enormous barcode. He was in second class out of five different classes, trainer class on the very bottom. That was a lot better than he would have thought.

"Thank you."

"I'll expect to see you in that tournament, runt. You have a small team but your pokemon are fighters. Wait here a sec." Surge turned around and easily jogged through a door in the back, almost having to duck to fit through the doorway. A moment later, he returned holding a thin case. He tossed it to Ash, who barely managed to catch it.

"Gym leaders get a few TMs to give to the hopefuls we think are going to go somewhere. Brock and Misty and the other bastards are too light-hearted and manage to hand theirs out before a couple of months go by. I've been stockpiling mine since year one but I think you've deserved it."

He pointed to the case. "That there is Shock Wave, one of the best fucking moves a non electric type can learn. Never misses unless countered. Your nidorino can learn it and I'm pretty sure the frillish can pick up the basics as well."

Ash blinked over the TM, something he hadn't expected in the slightest. "Thank you. I didn't expect this."

Surge shrugged, rolling his massive shoulder. "Runt, I can recognize a good trainer. Come with me. Raichu needs some healing and I need a bite."

Ash grinned as he followed Surge out of the Vermillion Gym. He had won the Thunder Badge.

* * *

 **Woah boy. That was so freaking long. About twenty three thousand words that kicked by rear end to try and write them.**

 **Seriously, I'm sorry for taking so long for this one to come out. It was hard to write that first couple of scenes and then this fight with Surge took like forever. He's a hard character to right but I still love him a lot.**

 **But yeah! I hope you liked this chapter. I don't think I'm going to answer any more questions on my page simply because they're just really long. I'll try to slip a PM instead so my other readers can just read through.**

 **Yeah! I think the SS Anne will start on chapter 12, so send in your OCs! Here's my official rules:**

 **I need a name, an age (10-12), a basic personality and appearance, pokemon team, and then a few kind of team strategies. Like, super offensive? Defensive? Any special moves you want me to use?**

 **I'll probably have two to three OCs I'll have Ash fight against, and then maybe two more I'll describe in lesser detail. And then one more for a special purpose… ;)**

 **So yeah! Send them in!**

 **Also, can you guys believe we're already at ten chapters? This is the lognest I've ever written a fanfic for. By next chapter, I'll get to 150,000 words. Yeah!**

 **Though guys, it'll be a while until my next update. I'm going to a fancy writing camp for a week and some change and I'll be working on my novel instead of a fanfic (sorry) but I'll get right back onto updating after that. Cheers!**

 **Anyway! Please read and review!**


	8. Lavender Town

Surge attracted a lot more attention than Ash would have thought.

The man topped out at about seven feet tall and easily had more muscles than Ash would ever get, so already he was an imposing figure. Six pokeballs and a seventh in his hand only added to the image.

Add in the fact that everyone knew he was the gym leader and it wasn't a very fun walk to the Pokecenter.

The trainers lined up outside of the gym instantly zeroed in on Surge and Ash, walking _away_ from the gym. They each chucked challenges like accusations at Surge, but the man brushed them off and snapped his fingers. The simple motion sounded like an explosion, and most of the trainers shut up. Several in the front of the line kept grumbling, though it was much more quiet.

"Keep the babies out 'til I get back. Beat the shit out of them if anyone tries to get in," Surge told the girl. She nodded, grabbing onto one of her pokeballs. Tossing it up and down and glaring at all of the trainers, they finally shut up and just stood there, waiting for even longer until Surge would return.

Ash felt just a little guilty as he walked by all of the trainers, but he was too excited to really care. Surge hadn't handed out more than five badges in _two weeks_ and he was one of the ones who had gotten one! His ticket was tightly grasped in his hand and he kept the badge in his pocket.

Surge pushed through the crowds with a casual ease, though most people cleared a path for him the second they saw his form block out the sun. The Pokecenter was close enough and though Ash took three steps for Surge's one, they made it there quickly and burst through the doors.

Several trainers collecting pokeballs from Nurse Joy stiffened and promptly fled over to the side of the room, leaving a clear path. Surge tossed his six pokeballs over, Nurse Joy barely catching all of them. But he set Raichu's pokeball on the counter with a fair deal more care. Ash rather hesitantly set his beside the man's.

Nurse Joy glared at Surge and swatted his hand, and he chuckled. "Full Restores on all of them. Shouldn't be too many problems but I need Raichu in perfect blasting form."

"Oh, ready to send more injured pokemon over to me?" She said, gathering all of his pokeballs and setting them onto a special machine to her right, pressing a grey button and sending them to a back room.

Ash spoke up. "Just regular healing for me, please."

Surge grinned and grabbed his shoulders, steering him away from the counter even as Nurse Joy twittered as his back. But there wasn't any heat in their relationship, just teasing with only a hint of ire on Nurse Joy's side. Surge, despite having a vicious streak a mile wide, wasn't a cruel man.

A booth on the far side magically cleared as Surge grew near and the people working there appeared almost instantly, offering him what seemed to be his regular favourite. Ash accepted anything and was presented with a pecha and persim berry smoothie as well as several pancakes.

Surge, despite it being morning, got three hamburgers and a small mountain of fries. The servers also presented him with a powdery drink tinged the bright orange of protein that did not look appetizing in the slightest, but Surge drank the entire thing down in four seconds flat and immediately dug into his burgers.

"Runt, I'll level with you. Your team's got some type problems but it isn't complete shit. Too many poison types but that can be worked with. That vulpix is still a baby but she's teething. Anything you'd like to tell me?"

Surge's voice darkened but Ash steeled his shoulders and kept his gaze. "She was attacked by Team Rocket and her previous trainer killed. I got permission from Brock to catch her again and had her checked out by Bill."

The gym leader nodded. "That explains it. Fire types have a problem with pride, boy, and that vulpix is no exception - right now, she's facing weak enough opponents to keep it up but that'll backfire on her fast."

He downed another burger as Ash finished his two pancakes. Surge held up one hand and began to tick fingers off for every one of his pokemon. "Your vulpix needs more control. You can burn the field but she didn't know shit after that. Frillish aren't too wimpy and yours held up. Anger issues but she is a ghost type. That ekans is getting ready to evolve but you're training it like a nidorino - they can't take hits like that. Get it faster. Protect was a good idea. Your nidorino isn't half-bad but you've been pulling victories out of your ass so far - get down to some real training. All of your pokemon need more battles."

Ash absorbed all of this information, almost wanting to take down notes. "What should I do now? I've only got about a month until the SS Anne takes off and I've only got four pokemon."

Surge scratched his chin. "About that. I dunno who you're going to be battling against - the tournament so far is pretty mysterious because of the breeder who hooked up with the League. Everyone has tried to figure out what those two pokemon are, and I mean everyone - trainers come up to me daily wondering what the hell those little buggers are."

"I'd normally suggest going to the Safari Zone, as you can catch fucking everything there. But that's three weeks from Celadon and its hell trying to get there from here. With about a month, I'd suggest going up to Lavender. You've already got a ghost type but like with your ekans nidorino, sometimes multiple of one type isn't bad. There's also a metric shitton of normal types up there. Most trainers ignore that type cause it seems useless but you've managed to get an ekans pretty strong - maybe you'd be able to handle it."

Ash frowned. "Isn't Lavender Town still marked dangerous by the League? I mean, I've only recently been allowed to go there."

"Runt." Surge glared at him. "Do you think I got my kickass pokemon by playing it safe? If there's something you want, go for it. Sitting back and letting life pass is what gets you into fancy Institutes were not a single fucking thing gets done."

"Besides, Lavender Town is only dangerous if you're trying to tackle the higher levels of the tower. Stay out of the topmost floors and you'll be fine - that is if its even open by the time you get there. About three weeks of traveling and then another week of training. Just make sure to get here in a month, because I didn't give you that badge for you to be a late bastard and miss the whole thing."

"What about Celadon? I could get a new badge and another pokemon."

Surge shook his head. "Just shitty water types up there. 'Cause of the Department Store, tons of tourists come in and scare away all of the pokemon, and the ones still there have been picked up by trainers. Just some minnows left."

Ash nodded, sipping his smoothie. It was very sweet and he greatly enjoyed it. "I'll head to Lavender Town and be back before you know it with a new pokemon to kick Raichu back to the curb."

Surge grinned. "Runt, that there was one member of my team not even on full power. How do you think you'd fare against her real strength?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Nervous?"

The man roared with laughter and slapped a hand on his shoulder. "Runt, we'll make a trainer out of you yet! I'll expect to see you cruising those waves with those new pokemon in your hands."

Ash nodded. "I will be."

Surge did eventually have to go back to his gym, and his pokemon were already well healed with Full Restores. He let Nurse Joy give him a few warnings with a grin on his face before giving Ash one last warning, telling him to make sure to battle with his pokemon more. Then he turned, grinned, and walked out the doors with a bang.

Ash let out a sigh he hadn't known he'd been holding. Surge had a sort of presence that was almost draining to be around.

Nurse Joy gave him a sympathetic expression. "Your pokemon should be completely healed in about five hours, but I wouldn't suggest pushing them too hard for another day or so. They'll be very sore. When are you planning to leave?"

Ash looked around the Pokecenter and into Vermillion Town. While it was a gorgeous place with many things to explore, he wanted to get to Lavender Town and find a new pokemon to join his team. "Tomorrow, I think. Anything I should see while I'm here?"

Nurse Joy pursed her lips. "Well, we've got Pokemon Fan Club building here, though it's truly not that interesting. A couple of construction sites if you'd like to help out. There's the Fishing Brother, though he's one of the most arrogant people in this town." She stifled a snicker in her palm. "And I work with Lt. Surge!"

"Other than that, I can't think of much. Most of our attractions come from the sea but a day isn't enough time to do most any of them. A few traders are always based toward the exit of the town."

He thanked her and started off toward Vermillion. He'd probably check out the Pokemon Fan Club. That sounded interesting, at least.

* * *

As Ash, quickly found out, it was not interesting.

He lunged for the door, just barely managing to push it open and escape into the outside. He gasped for breath, glancing back inside to see the leader of the club still talking endlessly about his rapidash.

At first, it had been fun to hear about. Once he got to story five, things got a little annoying. Story seven, frustrating. Story eleven, painful.

Anything else and he was sure his ears would start bleeding.

He checked around them. No blood.

Brushing off his pants, he carefully closed the door. The man still hadn't stopped talking about his pokemon, and he had started to understand why the building had looked a bit broken down and weather touched. He hadn't seen anyone else from the club inside of the building, though the club was supposed to be very popular in other regions.

But that was an hour he was never going to get back. Walking away from the building, he stuffed his hands into his pockets and looked around to see what the town offered. To his left was more houses, but to his right was something Nurse Joy had told him about - a construction site.

He wandered closer, tilting his head to the side. It was a small plot of land, the ground hard pressed dirt covered in several large chunks of rock. Clear signs of a pokemon using Earthquake, though its control wasn't perfect, but then another sort of rock move as shown by the several large boulders, though he didn't what one.

A man was wandering around the field, a machop trotting at his heels. It was well trained with powerful arms and legs, though a bit of a bored expression on its face. Its gills fluttered as it kicked a small rock out of the way.

The man had a piece of paper in his hands, twisting it around and directing the pokemon to move pieces of rock and stone.

Ash stepped closer. "What are you doing?"

The man jerked and stared at him with bright brown eyes, his machop tensing its arms. But after seeing Ash's trainer belt and casual clothing he relaxed. "Sorry. Just a little nervous. I'm working on building a store, you see, but I need collateral for the bank to give me a loan. So I've been trying to find something in these rocks my machop keeps pulling up with Rock Tomb. There are stories of people finding gold nuggets or stone shards." At a gesture from him, the machop grinned and pulled back one of its fists, shining a bright red. It punched a lump of rock nearly as tall as its head, the stone cracking heavily. Another punch and it shattered, sending shards of stone everywhere.

The man leaned down, pushing apart the shards of rock as he looked over it. Most of it was a dark grey, just common stone, though a few veins of something darker ran over its surface. But nothing interesting.

He sighed and kicked away a few rocks, patting his machop on the shoulder. It grunted up at him, grinning.

Ash looked over the field. Maybe when he came back from Lavender Town he could help the man get some collateral. He hadn't been looking very hard, but there were so many stories and League paper of trainers finding things on their journey, from evolutionary items such as stones and feathers and scales to even TMs dropped from trainers. People had earned tons of money on the road from finding things like that.

The man looked toward him but didn't say anything, sighing softly. The field was littered with tons of pieces of rock. He had obviously been trying to get something for collateral for a very long time now.

Something pricked in his chest but while he had money, he needed it to be able to feed his pokemon. Maybe later he'd be able to help him out, if he didn't already find something to use.

But for now, he just walked away as the man's machop slammed its fists into another pile of rocks and came up empty.

* * *

The sun gleamed brilliantly near the horizon as Ash headed back to the Pokecenter. It was growing close to the time he wanted to turn in, but he didn't want to wander around Vermillion again. The town was nice, but he needed more time to explore the truly fun things of it.

He walked past the gym, which still had a line curling around several buildings. His badge was neatly placed into his badge case, tucked into his bag in a safe position. His SS Anne ticket was folded into his most secure place. He did not want to lose the thing so many people were trying to get.

The Pokecenter was full, mostly of people sitting tensely in the couches waiting for the verdict from Nurse Joy. She looked rather exhausted and had many glances toward the clock, ready for the time that she would be able to leave and go to sleep. On the other side of the room, her assistant - the one who took over for nights - stared at the line with not a small amount of worry.

He waited for a while in the line, and Nurse Joy barely spared him a glance before slamming a few buttons down onto the machine next to her. After a moment, a tab opened and four pokeballs emerged from the top.

"Your vulpix will still have a slightly higher amount of electricity inside of her, but I'm guessing this was probably her first time being paralyzed? I'd suggest training your pokemon a bit against it."

And then she handed him his pokeballs and shooed him away before he could even thank her. He shouted his thanks as he walked away and was rewarded with a tired smile before she turned back to her line.

He held his pokeballs tight in his arms as he walked up to his room, the key on his belt. Unlocking it quickly, he stepped inside and dropped the rest of his stuff on the small bed. Though Siren was a water type, he hadn't ordered her an aquarium, though his bathroom did have a bathtub as well as a shower. Her Water Absorb ability would probably help get rid of most of her last aches and soreness.

Releasing his pokemon, he immediately knelt down to be on eye level with most of them. Siren floated above him, chittering softly, her shark teeth bared in a smile.

Vulpix yipped, though he could see her stepped over to him with jerky movements. She frowned at her own body, shaking furiously, but the edges of her fur were standing up and her tails flickered.

Ro rumbled at him as Ash hugged him, careful of the spines over his back. Even with his barbs below his skin, he still had to worry about the sharp spines that could inject poison with a touch.

Apep looked a little annoyed, but he hissed happily as Ash stroked over his head scales, feeling the warmth from underneath them. His rattle was soft and scratchy sounding, his tail growing thinner as he grew closer and closer to evolving. Ash couldn't wait for that to happen, but Surge's words stuck in his mind.

"Guys, we won the battle! Ro just managed to knock Raichu out, but all of you guys were the reason we won. Vulpix, you took out two of his pokemon and then injured a third! Apep took out his jolteon and then hurt Raichu. Siren, your Night Shades really slowed Raichu down. And Ro, you finished it all off. This means we get to go on the SS Anne."

All of his pokemon perked up at that. He had briefed them on it before, and the idea of the tournament and then a few days on Cinnabar Island, where he could maybe even catch a new pokemon.

"But you remember how hard that battle was? The tournament is going to be just as difficult, and we need to be ready for it. There's only a month before we get on the boat and we are going to spend every moment of it training as hard as we can. All of you are going to learn two new moves, which doesn't include Gunk Shot, Apep."

Apep's eyes widened, which made sense. Two new moves in a month was difficult but with Apep going to be trying to learn Gunk Shot as well, it would be impossible. But Ash desperately wanted him to at least begin to learn the moves before he evolved in order to be able to overpower them when he finally evolved. And he wasn't even done yet.

"On top of that, I'm going to be focusing on something for all of you. Apep and Vulpix, you two are going to become my fast pokemon. Neither one of you can take hits, so you'll be able to dodge them. That's even what Surge suggested." Vulpix yipped at him while Apep just looked more worried.

"Ro, I need your endurance to skyrocket. You took a Volt Tackle, which is incredible, but I want more. So you might be pretty sore for the next month, I'm sorry in advance, buddy." Ro just rumbled.

"Siren, I'm teaching you Absorb as one of your moves. That'll be two moves you can use to heal, which is what you need. You are going to be able to take a lot of hits, but more importantly, I want you to be a surprise. Trainers will think they will have beaten you but then you can just heal away all of your pain." Siren chittered at that, grinning.

He filled the bathtub with warm water and showed it to Siren. She immediately brightened and sank into it, tentacles flicking. Her form actually dissolved slightly in the water, only the bare outline remaining with two bright red eyes. He was guessing the tournament might have some sort of water feature on its battlefield, and Siren's ability as both a water type - disguise in water - and a ghost type - she wasn't as present in this world as most pokemon and could hide herself - would definitely come in handy.

Ash changed quickly and set all of his clothes on the desk, making sure everything was ready for him to leave right away once he woke up. But he wasn't going to sleep immediately - he pulled out his pokedex and flicked to his pokemon's pages. He needed to find their perfect two moves, though they'd definitely get a say in what they wanted.

Apep curled up a bit lower on his chest, glaring at the pokedex from where Ash held it and blocked his regular spot. Ro tucked himself into a ball of blankets on the ground, closing his eyes. Vulpix pushed her nose into Ash's thigh, tails safely secured underneath a fireproof blanket.

He smiled at his pokemon, scratching behind Vulpix's ears and rubbing Apep's head. Ro grumbled from the ground and Siren chittered happily from her bathtub, water splashing. They were all content.

None more so than him. Turning the brightness of his pokedex on the minimum, he began to scan through future moves.

* * *

Ash was very happy to leave behind the endless lines of trainers in Vermillion City, the hustle and bustle that he was very much not used to from weeks of traveling on quiet routes with only his pokemon.

Route 11 was a quiet little thing, mainly an endless grassland that marked a little less than half of Kanto. Unlike the ones he had seen before, though, this one was slightly better kept, the path neatly trimmed and the grass cut down to a reasonable height. It was only about chest height, a bit higher in places, but it allowed him to see for what seemed like miles.

It also let him see the wandering heads of other trainers on the route, most on the path, but a few trotted through the grass itself, their pokemon strong by their side. That was nearly a surefire way to be challenged by any moderately upset pokemon, but it was a great way to train. A way that Surge had strongly suggested.

Ash grimaced, but at least he was wearing pants, thin as they might be. He wouldn't get too scratched up.

After a moment of thinking, he pulled out Apep's pokeball and released him. He had been planning on having Vulpix out as well, but she was too hot with Flame Body. Even trying to rein herself in, the dry, golden grass would probably catch fire without too much trouble. And that was something he definitely did not need right now.

Apep hissed up at him, flicking his tail. Ash smiled, rubbed his scales, and then jumped into the grass.

It was scratchy, annoying, and fruitful as hell. Within the first couple of hours, he must have been challenged at least five times. Most of them were small pokemon that had probably just been disturbed, and an Iron Tail or Acid from Apep was enough to scare them off. But there had been a raticate that had taken Apep's full concentration in order to knock it out. The pokemon hadn't been that strong but it was vicious in its few attacks. Ash had covered it slightly with the grass before moving on, where he was promptly challenged by another annoyed pidgey looking to pick a fight.

Apep won that one, too.

At ten pokemon fights, Ash finally turned and fought his way back to the path. Apep was tired and had a few bruises on his side from a couple of nasty scratches and bites from rattatas in Wrap.

Healing him with half a regular potion, Apep gave him a thankful look. He pet his starter and looked forward, nodding to a trainer who had a growlithe trotting peacefully at his heels. He opened his mouth to challenge them but the trainer quickly walked on by, hands stuffed into his pockets. Not everyone wanted to battle, and Ash was okay with that, though Apep looked a bit miffed.

Ash walked on the regular route for an hour, only managing to find one trainer who wanted to battle. His pokemon, a weepinbell with a meek expression, was knocked out quickly with Apep's Iron Tails and Payback, though Ash definitely noticed he had to teach him a new attack. He got the money, walked for a bit more, and then dived back into the grass.

This time, though, he was challenged by a different pokemon than normal. An ekans hissed furiously out of the tall grass, dark purple scales flashing in the sun and golden band shining.

Apep rattled his tail at it, to which the pokemon stopped short and peered curiously at him, trilling softly. Apep hissed back, no anger in his voice. Ash just stood back and watched, head tilted.

The two ekans talked back and forth for several minutes, gesturing with their tails and baring fangs. After a moment, the wild ekans nodded its head and slithered off, disappearing into the grass. Apep came back over to Ash, hissing rather smugly and coiling up by his side, rattling his tail.

Ash laughed and pet his head, walking on.

The traveling went by fast, much faster than normal. As he went through the grass and kept his eyes down in order to see any pokemon beneath his feet, he didn't really notice the sun except for when it began to burn past the protector on his the back of his neck. So it was a bit of a surprise to glance up and see it edging toward the horizon, most of the day passed inside of the tall grass. At least he had fed his pokemon lunch when he had noticed it was around twelve-ish.

That meant it was time for training. He grinned.

It had taken him long into the night, probably a lot more than he should have done, to figure out several moves for each of his pokemon. He had a few backup in case they didn't want what he offered, but he knew they'd find something.

Turning off the path, he made camp in a patch relatively clear of grass. He could see divots in the ground and stones piled together and guessed another trainer had probably used this space recently. Setting up all of his supplies, he grabbed his pokedex and readied his pokeballs.

Apep was already by his side and flicked his tongue out at the ground, head tilted to the side. Vulpix yawned, stretching muscles that had probably cramp[ed from spending so much time inside of her pokeball. He promised to walk more on the path tomorrow and keep her out as well. Ro shook himself and pushed his nose into Ash's leg, rumbling. Siren hissed at the dry grass.

He smiled at them all, coming down into a sitting position. "Okay, guys. Here's my plan for the next month."

It was about a week and a half until he reached Lavender Town, and he wanted to spend three, maybe four days there before heading back to Vermillion. Definitely not a ton of wiggle room but it was enough he didn't feel too concerned, especially since he could cut the travel time down a ton by turning down challenges and only moving on the route.

Three weeks was what he had to work with, and that was what he was going to do. He had made a point to try and give his pokemon one defensive move and one offensive, trying his best to make all of them count. Many trainers struggled with an overload of offensive attacks and no defense, which could make it pretty easy to wheedle their defenses down for one powerful attack.

He had to work hard to find his pokemon moves he thought were right. For the most part, he stuck to their regular movesets, only dipping into tutor moves for a bit. But eventually, he needed to branch into teaching his pokemon moves they could only learn through TM. Most of the time, pokemon could only learn though after they were fully evolved, which posed a few problems for him. Only those training for months straight could begin to learn those, which was hard to get. He'd get enough money to buy them TMs but in the future, he waited eagerly for the day where they would learn every move they could get their hands or scales on. But now was not that time.

Pointing to each of his pokemon, he began to list of the moves he wanted them to learn.

For Apep, he had a reason for both. While he had already begun to work on Coil, completing the move would seriously help his quest. The move, when done right, would raise his attack and strength, which would help his toxicity. The offensive, Acid Spray, was both fulfilling a promise and helping raise his toxicity. Apep let out a pleased hiss and accepted both of them.

Ro was much easier. Focus Energy was a neat move that boosted the pokemon's mental abilities, allowing it to search its opponent for weaknesses and find the perfect place to attack. It could take a bit of time to lower the seconds needed, but Ash believed in Ro. His offensive was his TM Shock Wave, which wouldn't take very long at all. But he wouldn't dump another move on his pokemon, letting him learn those two and perfecting a few of his others.

Vulpix was the most displeased with hers. His idea of Iron Tail was well taken, at least, especially once he suggested that she might be able to learn how to do multiple attacks with her tails, and she already knew from Apep how powerful it was. But her rivalry with Siren's mere existence was shown when she rejected learning the ghost type move Confuse Ray from her. Ash tried to explain what the move did - vertigo, blurred vision, uncontrollable twitches or movements which would make it a lot easier to defeat them - but Vulpix shot down all of his ideas.

But his description of Confuse Ray had at least done a little help, as she was suitably nervous of being unable to control her own motions. So she accepted Safeguard, which would protect her from confusion, though she was still a bit miffed and had pointed to several more attacks before he turned her down.

Siren chittered happily as he offered his ideas. Absorb was a move that would create a temporary bond between the pokemon, allowing Siren to suck their health and energy away into her body. Okay, it was an attack, but technically it still mostly helped Siren. She would also be learning Shock Wave, which she seemed excited about. Two new elements but one of them was a TM.

Ro and Siren's pokeballs both glowed an almost blinding yellow, flashing through the air. The second they were released, Ro frowned and concentrated, his horn crackling with electricity. After a second, he fired it.

Apep roared with fury as the energy slammed into his chest. Ash sighed and recalled Ro before his starter could attack. It might be a long training session.

For starters, he had Vulpix up a Protect for Siren and Ro to aim their Shock Waves at. It pulled a bit from her training but it still went okay, though once the fox pokemon began to run sprints she had to let it drop. They both lost concentration at times only to have their Shock Wave curve back around and slam into themselves, which Ro shrugged off and Siren exploded at. Apep and Vulpix did well, and he helped them as much as he could. Both of them worked on their defensive moves first, which was much easier for Vulpix. She already knew how to use Protect and while Safeguard was a different move, it had the same concept behind it. That, he was confident, she would learn before the three weeks were up.

The training that night was hard, but not as long as he would have liked. As much as Ash regretted it, he had stayed up late last night and couldn't really stay conscious very far past nine, and turned in for the night.

His pokemon flopped next to him in exhaustion. Siren could barely lift herself off of the ground.

Ash grinned and fell asleep.

Most of the week passed in days like that, endless traveling over fields and fields of swaying golden grass. He stayed out of the grassfields for most of it after seeing how exhausted his pokemon became after training, though he still got challenges from every pokemon the second he went inside. Vulpix was mainly used in his trainer battles as she really couldn't fight in the grass, but everyone got a fair turn to battle.

They just got stronger, though he was starting to run through his supply of oran berries very quickly.

About a week in, Ash yawned and stretched his hands above his head. He was only an hour away from when he wanted to stop and though he knew his back would regret it, he let Apep curl over his chest in the way they hadn't done for so long. The ekans hissed happily, head resting on his shoulder. He had grown longer, his tail hanging by Ash's side. He was so, infuriatingly close to evolving.

His moves were becoming stronger and he had gained some of the evolution aggression, itching to pick a fight with Ro during every training session. Ash had separated them for now but he was tingling with excitement - it had to happen soon. His starter would finally evolve into a powerful arbok. Apep had been furious that Ro had evolved before him but soon, it wouldn't matter.

That night, he got everyone into position to perform their moves. Vulpix had managed to create a thin pink shield that had weakened but not stopped one of her Will-O-Wisps, but she was getting close. Ro and Siren had long since mastered Shock Wave and had started on their new moves. Every now and then Ro would flinch, a tiny bit of his energy sucked away, but he kept his eyes narrowed as he studied Siren's body, occasionally pointing toward a certain spot. Siren would giggle happily if he was right, revealing whether she was sore in that area or not, helping Ro to learn.

While Apep had gotten the basics of Coil down, he didn't want to keep working. He wanted to fight Ro, and tonight Ash was giving him his chance. If he didn't let Apep battle, he could be stuck right before he was about the evolve, which could severely hamper his growth and skyrocket his aggression.

"Ro, try to use your new moves. Apep, I want you to focus on only attacking a little. Remember, you need to beat Ro with your speed, not your strength. That's how you're going to beat him," Ash called, nudging his pokemon a little bit farther back, out of the blast zone. With how Apep had focused his gleaming golden eyes on the nidorino, this wouldn't be a pretty fight between friendly pokemon.

"Go!"

Apep lunged, tail gleaming silver. That was his favourite move at the moment and it showed with the powerful steel type energy shining over the clearing.

Ro grunted and reared back, parrying the move with his front claws. It hurt but barely anything, and Apep hissed furiously as he slithered back. Globs of Acid splattered over Ro's sides, pushing him back with no real damage.

An Ice Beam split the air and Apep blocked it with Protect, hissing furiously. He slithered forward, slamming Iron Tail onto the ground and launching himself forward.

Ro spun, baring sharp spines, but Apep ignored the pain as he used Wrap on the nidorino, tightening his muscles and slamming purple-tinted fangs into Ro's shoulder.

The situation was familiar, and Ro used the same method to get out of it. Horn glowing the fierce blue of Peck, he wrenched his head sideways to jerk Apep's fangs out of his skin and slammed his horn into Apep's side.

Apep caterwauled as he was flung away, writhing. Ro's horn exploded with energy and a Shock Wave burst from it, snapping through the air to burst against Apep's scales.

Ash raised a hand, eyes narrowed, when a brilliant glow split the field. Apep roared, rising up to his full height.

He grinned.

Apep glowed brightly from within, scales shining an ethereal white. He flickered, his form fading away into the sheer energy of evolution. It was finally his starter's time to grow into the pokemon he was meant to be.

He lengthened, inches growing onto the edge of his tail, much slower than Ro's growth had been. His neck flexed, flaps of skin extending out, when Ash saw Apep's head curl down to look at his growing hood.

A furious hiss split the air. Apep lunged forward, forcing his way through the power of evolution, and slammed in his head into the trunk of a nearby tree.

Ash lunged forward, but Apep did it again and fell unconscious.

He couldn't help but blink as the evolution energy stopped flowing over Apep's body, retreating from under his scales and escaping into the warm air. The beginning of his hood retreated back underneath his skin and he shortened once again, re-emerging from the brilliance as the ekans he still was.

Ro grunted, uneasy, as he stepped forward. Ash beat him to it and knelt next to his starter, brushing a hand over his scales. They were warm, almost unnaturally, to the touch, much too hot for an ekans. Ash left his side for a second and returned with a potion, dousing Apep with the whole thing.

After a few minutes, the snake came back to consciousness. Ash immediately hugged him, pulling Apep toward his body, before settling back and staring Apep in the eye. The ekans didn't meet his gaze at first, angling his golden eyes down. Most of his aggression seemed to have left him.

"I don't understand, bud," Ash said softly, brushing his fingers over Apep's scales. "Don't you want to evolve?"

Apep's nod was instant and venomous.

Ash blinked. "But you just turned down evolution."

Another nod.

"What do you want then, bud? Was this the wrong time, or something? You don't have to worry about proving yourself to me or any of the others," he said, keeping his voice gentle. "We all believe in you."

Apep hissed, eyes narrowed in frustration. He couldn't explain why it wasn't right yet, why he had to wait.

Ash tried but couldn't understand anything of what his starter was saying. "I'm sorry bud, for whatever reason that you're turning down evolution. But we'll get through it, okay? Do you feel okay?"

Another nod, though this one was slightly more hesitant. Ash narrowed his eyes and the snake finally shook his head, tail twitching limply on the ground.

"No more training today for you. Everyone else, finish up what you were doing. We'll turn in for the night."

That night, Apep curled up so close under his chin that it almost seemed he was afraid Ash would just disappear, tail wrapping around his arm and tongue tickling his neck. His breath was still too warm to be natural but he was cooling down.

Ash just stroked him long into the dark.

* * *

There were no more battles between Apep and anyone, which the ekans seemed happy for. He threw himself into training with such a determination it almost scared his other pokemon, managing to both learn and then master Coil in only two more days. Acid Spray had already switched from bright orange to a muted yellow in only another two, well on its way to brilliant green. Apep had never worked harder.

Vulpix was a day away from mastering Safeguard, working on keeping it up as long as Protect. Ro struggled with Focus Energy but he was able to find a few weak points in twenty seconds. Siren gleefully sucked energy from all of his pokemon with Absorb, but she didn't have the strength to pull more than a couple drops worth. Not that he really knew how to measure energy.

By that time, the grass fell away to reveal Route 12, which wasn't so much a natural route as a collection of manmade bridges. He could either head toward Fuschia or Lavender, and he already knew he had to turn left. The bridges were wide and rather stable, hundreds of supports for each one. There had never been a collapse on any of them, and people often told stories of full-grown snorlax taking rests here.

After only a day on the bridges, he peered forward and saw distant shapes on the horizon, the huddled forms of houses and stores. Lavender Town.

He grinned and increased his pace.

In only an hour or two, he stepped off his last bridge and emerged into Lavender Town. Instantly, the temperature dropped.

It was a small town, one completely drenched in the both surprising and not color of lavender. The cobbled streets were stained that color and most of the houses had a shade of it, in windows and tiles and sidings. While he didn't think he could spend all of his time surrounded by the almost overwhelming presence of purple, it was a nice chance from either endless golden grass or the blue of the sea.

Though the nice change didn't last very long as a sort of presence flowed over him, something creeping over his aura with wicked little fingers and gleaming fangs. He shook himself and felt his psychic barriers snap into place, though they didn't do much.

Almost no people were on the streets, despite it being around five. A few faces peered at him through windows, wide eyes and confused stares. The houses seemed much more comfortable than Saffron's, as odd as that sounded. They were wooden and colored and bright despite the dull feeling in the air.

The Pokecenter still gleamed over the town, bright lights escaping into the sky through its glass dome. He trotted toward it, very grateful that it was able to be seen from the gate. He didn't really want to ask anyone for directions.

Nurse Joy tilted her head at him as he walked inside, accepting his pokeballs with a nod. She was the most quiet one that he had ever met, handing over a room key with a soft "You're welcome." He edged into a conversation.

"Is the Pokemon Tower back to being welcome to trainers?"

She looked at him. "Yes, for about two weeks now. Going above floor three is illegal however, and will see your immediate removal from the premise. Refusing to listen to the Ace trainers will see a black mark on your Trainer ID."

"Duly noted." He tried for a grin but she didn't return it, aiming her blank stare over his shoulder.

Though he had heard about it in the League updates, seeing the effect of the ghostly presence over Lavender Town was something very different to hearing about it. Nurse Joys were normally very kind and helpful, even the one that worked with Lt. Surge, which was a skill within itself. This one seemed almost dead, going through the basic motions of everything without seeming to care all that much.

He pulled up the list of pokemon found in the Pokemon Tower. For tonight, if his pokemon healed fast enough, he'd go and check out the Pokemon Tower before trying to find any of the normal types Surge had talked about. Though Ace trainers had combed the entire thing many times, maybe he could find something. He didn't feel much like exploring the town. To be honest, he didn't even want to leave the Pokecenter.

In only an hour, Nurse Joy's voice came over the intercom. He jumped at the sound and walked toward her, accepting his pokeballs. She went back to staring endlessly at the wall, eyes blank.

Ash trotted outside, pokeballs tight on his belt. The town blurred as he moved away from it, not having to dodge any other inhabitants. The whole time he ran through the purple streets, no one greeted or saw him. When he had said he liked the quiet of traveling, it hadn't been like this.

At the edge of the town, there was the Pokemon Tower. It was a brilliant, ingenious structure that seemed to shoot up from solid rock, only the most basic designs carved into the stones making up its body. The majority was a deep grey mixed with black, seeming like a shadow peeled from the ground and settled as a tower. Ash shivered as he walked closer, gooseflesh pricking on his arms.

There was no one at the door, only a small sign newly posted by the narrow wooden door. _The bottom three floors are open to all trainers, but entrance above those is strictly forbidden. The League is investigating and soon, the entirety of the Pokemon Tower will be open to the public once again_.

Ghostly energy swirled around him, seeming as real as the wind. With a shudder, he grabbed for a pokeball.

Siren appeared with a chitter, immediately freezing as she appeared. Her eyes widened as she almost seemed to feed on the power around her, arms rising and tentacles flicking. She stared up at the tower, almost reverent.

Ash frowned just as a face pressed itself into the stone by his side.

He jerked back but Siren just flew down to the empty eyes and fanged grin morphing the black stone. She chittered almost warningly and the face receded, only to reappear as a pokemon floating through solid stone, slipping through as easily as water.

The gengar before him fixed one red eye on his face, its two pupils moving out of sync with each other. It was tall, a full five inches above his height, with a spiky purple body and small hands and feet. The entire pokemon just radiated a presence that burned behind his eyes even as the bare beginnings of his psychic barriers tried to stop it. He felt his back bend, eyes flicking down, fingers curling into fists-

An arm smacked into the back of Gengar's head and Ash instantly straightened up again, blinking wildly. Siren hissed and the ghost pokemon made a hollow sound of apology before hissing something back.

His pokemon and the wild, fully evolved beast talked, but it wasn't in actual sound. Wind swirled around them as they connected gaze, energy flickering out of their eyes. Ash couldn't help but avert his gaze, the sheer presence of Gengar's power forcing his eyes to the side and down.

After a moment, Siren looked back at him, almost anxious. She chittered at him, frowned as he didn't understand, and grabbed his wrist with her arm. Gengar hissed again before flicking one red eye toward the door, keeping the other fixed on Ash. It exploded open, the edges flickering with grey energy.

Ash sucked in a deep breath before following Siren inside. Gengar cackled softly and slipped into a shadow, appearing inside the tower before him. His skin prickled with unease at the casual way Gengar made the shadow writhe and twist with glowing red eyes before appearing out of it, fangs bared in a grin.

But Siren tightened her grip on his arm and pulled him along, chittering darker than normal. Gengar led them through the darkness of the floor, mostly empty. There were a few ancient chairs and tables from ancient parties that would never see the light lest they crumble to dust with their age. The Pokemon Tower had been around for many years and it would survive for just as long, guarded by the spirits of the dead.

Ash frowned at the stairs, which were pitch black wood drenched in pitch black shadows. Gengar hissed in frustration and Siren jerked Ash up them, creaking dangerously but holding his weight. The second floor was much the same but Ash caught sight of a pair of dark blue eyes and the flicker of flames before he went up the stairs again.

On the third floor, the stairs were blocked with a brightly colored metal gate, the League's symbol pounded into the steel. Gengar turned transparent and floated through it, the metal shifting his body. It warped around him like water, shimmering, before reforming as the ghost pokemon finished going through it. Turning back around, it hissed and floated up the stairs again.

Siren wrapped her arms around Ash and picked him up, moving with rather incredible strength for such a thin, wispy pokemon. She floated up until Ash's feet just cleared the highest rung and set him down on the other side, chittering. Shivers wracked his body as the energy grew stronger.

The fourth floor was different.

Ghosts openly congregated everywhere in the room, their forms fading in and out with the swirling ghostly energy. Gastly, haunter, one other gengar, as well as more exotic pokemon - duskull, litwick, misdreavus, and shuppet. Most were grey and black and the occasional touch of blue, their bodies rippling and shifting. Though he tried, he couldn't seem to fully see each of them, all of the ghost pokemon fading before they reached his eyes, emerging only as a misshapen clump of shadows.

One spot in the middle of the room was completely clear of all ghost, pokemon or energy. It was large but not overly so and actual light gleamed onto it, bending and refracting around the single spot in the dark floor.

Gengar hissed again, red eyes narrowed to slits and both pointing toward the spot of light. Siren did as well, arms flicking as she turned back toward Ash, pointing him toward the center of the room.

All of the ghosts had stopped. They stared with haunting, flickering eyes at Ash before Gengar barked a warning. Siren pointed toward Ash's pokeballs, which he grabbed. "What's going on?" He whispered, breath steaming in the air.

Gengar hissed, and the other gengar floated forward. It visibly sagged in the air, eyes thin and tired, barely holding its form. At Gengar's command, it flicked its hands up and let them drop.

A wave of ghost energy flew through the room, settling heavily over the spot of bright light in the middle. Like a ripple, something appeared as the swirls of ghostly energy flickered away.

Ash stiffened. A snorlax laid in the middle of the room, sleeping.

It was enormous - the top of its chest was nearly at Ash's head, which made it nearly seven feet tall while standing. Thick blue fur rustled in an unseen breeze, thick fangs protruding from its mouth. Dagger claws and pointed ears - this was not a pokemon to casually see on the road and walk away from. They were capable of tearing down cities in their hunger rages. But why was it here?

Several things fell together in his mind.

Snorlax were normal type pokemon, which meant they were completely immune to ghost type moves, and with their thick layers of fat, they could shrug off most moves without even feeling them. But for the most part, they were gentle, docile creatures who would, even when wild, let children jump on their stomach. But the problem came with their size.

Snorlax had to eat nine hundred pounds of food every week, and then they would promptly sleep it off directly afterward. For the most part, their small number and ability to eat most everything, from meat to entire trees, kept them staved. But when they woke up and couldn't find enough to eat, they would go into dreadful hunger rages, where they would attack everything in sight until they managed to find enough to eat, where they would fall asleep once again.

Staring around the room, he could see several ghosts flinch back at the sight of the pokemon. Ghost type pokemon were strong, yes, but against normal type pokemon there was little they could correctly do. While most ghosts had a secondary typing, snorlax just had too high of defense and wouldn't feel anything that didn't have an incredible amount of physical power to it, something that ghost types just did not have.

And if a snorlax had come into the Pokemon Tower in a hunger rage, there was little the ghosts could do to defend themselves except for to hide. But instead they had hidden it from the view of trainers and protected it while it slept - something dark glistened over Snorlax's exposed clawed, dried brittle. It was a dark red, almost black.

If a snorlax didn't have anything to eat, it would start killing to make food.

Ash's stomach pounded viciously and he averted his gaze. Gengar had brought him up here because Siren had made the ghost pokemon trust him. He would do everything he could to stop the snorlax.

His mind raced. Snorlax had two main abilities - Immunity or Thick Fat. Either unable to be poisoned or resistant to fire and ice attacks. He couldn't tell for sure but Snorlax did have an extremely large stomach, something almost bulging. There wasn't a way to be positive but he guessed it probably had Thick Fat, which would only protect it even more from the ghosts. And Vulpix.

Scowling, he looked around the room. The ghosts still hung there, the room hazy and thick from energy, and there was no sun to power Vulpix's attacks. Siren would be the most at home here but his other pokemon would need to adjust. And Apep hadn't battled since he'd rejected evolution.

Ash turned, slowly, to face Gengar's gleaming red eye, the other still fixed on Snorlax. "Can the other ghosts leave? I don't want them to get hurt."

Gengar swiveled its eye around before cackling, the sound rich and dark. It swept through the air and every ghost looked over at it, being corporal for one blink of an eye. The next, they faded from view, their energy slipping upward through the floor to emerge elsewhere. There was still a prickle over his skin but it was faded now, much easier to handle. Gengar didn't leave, staring at him with an impassive eye.

Ash tossed out his pokemon, instantly falling to his knees and placing a finger over Apep's mouth to stop his happy hiss. Snorlax could take a lot of sound before they woke up but he didn't want to risk it. Pointing, he gathered all of his pokemon's attention and threw it towards the sleeping giant.

"We're going to take down Snorlax. It's going to be difficult but I believe in us."

Apep hissed like it had personally offended him. His evolution aggression was coming back, albeit slowly, but Ash was just hoping it might work. Snorlax was big but not fully grown, and definitely not kingsize.

"Spread out. Don't get too close but make sure to be able to hit it."

Vulpix stalked forward with Ro, taking the two sides. Siren hissed deep in her throat and floated over Snorlax to be at its back, tentacles dripping poison. Apep curled by Ash, tail twitching.

"Ro, Focus Energy. Tell everyone what you notice. Apep, Coil, make it a good one. This is going to be a matter of getting all of your attacks on it before it can notice us. Ro, constantly switch between Ice Beam and Shock Wave." The nidorino grunted with his eyes still narrowed, ears twitching as he scanned Snorlax's prone body. "Apep, Acid. If anyone cuts it, aim for that spot. We need it poisoned. Vulpix, blast it with whatever you've got - use Energy Ball. It might be resistant to fire." She hissed at that. "Siren, just water attacks and Shock Wave. Ghost type moves don't affect it," he finished, putting a hand over the empty pokeball on his waist. There was a chance he would catch it to keep - if not, he'd turn it over to the League.

Apep flickered brightly inside of his tightly wrapped ball, strengthening his muscles and eyes for better attack, defense, and accuracy. Not that it'd be hard to hit the behemoth in the middle of the room. Ro finally got out of Focus Energy and grunted around the room to everyone, telling them its weak spots. Vulpix hissed in acknowledgment and sank back into her attack position, tails whipping behind her. Siren just giggled, the sound high and threatening. Ash nodded.

"Siren, I don't know whether this'll wake it up, but use Absorb as soon as I give the word. Take as much energy as you can."

All of his pokemon tensed. He did so as well.

"Go!"

Ro roared, firing three glowing bursts of ice energy. They all exploded directly against Snorlax's head just as Siren's Shock Wave rippled over its chest. A gleaming ball of thick yellow poison burst over Snorlax's chest and fire crackled hungrily on Snorlax's arms.

Narrow black eyes snapped open.

Snorlax bellowed, slamming one hand into the ground and pushing itself to its feet. It glared around the room, turning to see all of the snarling pokemon around it. The tower shuddered as it stomped its feet, roaring.

Ash heard a hiss and turned around to see Gengar gone, but it wasn't completely. His shadow - not that he could see much of it in this dark room - was much larger than him, the proportions wrong and almost sticking out of the ground, the edges writhing in an unseen grip. The fight brought him back.

Vulpix hissed as she spat Ember after Ember, never being able to pause long enough to use Flamethrower. The balls of fire barely got Snorlax's attention as it batted them away, lunging for Vulpix again and again with one of its fists crackling with furious electricity. Vulpix was glowing in this dark room and she had gotten its attention first, but her speed managed to keep her away. Snorlax roared again, furious.

Shock Waves and Poison Stings peppered Snorlax's back but it barely seemed to feel it, shaking its head and lunging at Vulpix one again. Its Thunder Punch slammed into the wooden floor with enough force to make the tower groan.

Siren brightened suddenly as Snorlax frowned, energy flowing through the bond she had made. Snorlax turned to her, eyes burning with fury as it recognized her ghost typing. Its ears flickered silver almost weakly but the force behind the Iron Head sent Siren hurtling backward to slam into the wall.

"Recover!" Ash barked, even as Siren floated limply into the air, body dark and bruised. She flickered with glowing energy and most of the pain faded away, though she held herself more tightly.

"Get your energy back with Absorb. You need to hit it with Shock Waves," he called, just as Ro bellowed in pain.

Snorlax was able to focus on one pokemon at a time, but its focus was a deadly thing. With frightening precision, its fist glowed and popped with burning flames as it punched the Ice Beam, the move disrupting in midair. Fire Punch continued until it slammed into Ro's unprotected side.

Ro roared, letting the move spin him backward. Bracing himself, he launched Double Kick at Snorlax's exposed arm.

Snorlax screeched with rage, eyes closed and mouth gaping, but its voice didn't stop. It grew, crawling higher and higher until it made Ash's head throb. Of course it knew Screech. His pokemon definitely felt the move, eyes narrowed in pain as their sensitives ears exploded with the intense sound.

Apep had weaker ears than even Ash. He snapped an Acid directly in Snorlax's open face.

The pokemon's eyes flew open and it gagged, spitting out some of the orange poison. It flinched, shaking itself, even as more poison ran down its throat.

Ash cheered. Snorlax would probably digest the poison soon but right now, it had been poisoned. That put a timer on the battle, something he was very good at using. "Ro, Ice Beam! Get it frozen!"

The nidorino barely recovered from the Screech, charging silver blue energy in his throat. Only two beams exploded out but they both slammed into Snorlax's legs, the pokemon groaning as ice froze over his claws and fur.

Siren finally managed to form another bond with Absorb, some of her injuries fading as Snorlax actually hissed as the move sucked away its energy. It swivelled just in time for Vulpix to blast Flamethrower at its face.

It caterwauled, thumping backward. Apep lunged into the air and landed an Iron Tail right into the back of its legs. Fist crackling with lightning, it shot around with much more speed than Ash would have thought and punched Siren in her chest.

She shrieked with pain, electricity running over her body, before collapsing on the ground. Ash recalled her just as Snorlax grabbed for her, eyes narrowing in confusion as his prey disappeared.

Apep and Vulpix circled Snorlax, spitting some of their weaker attacks to bait it. Snorlax growled again at the missing Siren, ignoring the Embers and Poison Stings. Apep hissed and spat an Acid, the poison sliding over Snorlax's side. Vulpix opened her mouth and something green came from it, a move Ash realized he had only seen twice and never trained her on. Energy Ball exploded right in the back of Snorlax's head.

It finally turned its attention back on them just as Ro darted forward.

His side was blackened with burns and his movements stiff, but he worked up an impressive amount of speed. With his horn glowing a violent white he slammed Horn Attack into Snorlax's side, actually forcing the pokemon back a few inches. Snorlax seemed surprised, but only long enough to jump into the air and Body Slam Ro with its thousand pound body.

Ash instantly recalled his friend. There was no way he'd come out of that conscious.

Snorlax roared as another one of its prey disappeared, holding up two fists. Frost crept over its fingers as Ice Punch emerged into its grasp, swinging wildly as it tried to find the rapidly moving Apep and Vulpix.

They were running - or slithering - around Snorlax, not letting it hit them. Ash frowned, but he couldn't think of a way to end this. There was no way to use Payback when a single move had knocked Siren and Ro out and Vulpix's only finishing move was Flamethrower, which took time to charge.

"Apep, slow down! Let Vulpix use Flamethrower!" He shouted, tense. His friends pokeballs were tight in his hands.

Apep hissed and stopping slithering altogether, tail glowing silver if he needed a quick escape. Snorlax homed in on him and roared, fists still glowing.

Vulpix stopped behind him and, taking a few seconds, exploded Flamethrower at its exposed back.

Snorlax bellowed again, but it definitely had Thick Fat. Only a few chunks of fur were burned and barely any of its skin had gotten touched. Vulpix had firepower but that wasn't what he needed to end this match.

"Acid Spray!"

Apep's move he still hadn't perfected glimmered yellow as it slammed Snorlax forward a few steps, the perfect position to hit Vulpix with its Ice Punches.

Protect folded out above her nose.

Snorlax narrowed its eyes, but it'd obviously encountered this move before in the wild. It pressed down harder with its fists, the edges of Protect cracking under the strain. Vulpix yipped, strengthening it, but Snorlax just grinned darkly and put the force of its body behind the attack, slowly but steadily shattering Protect.

Apep hissed as he soared through the air.

His tail, glowing a brilliant silver, slammed into Snorlax's neck, breaking its concentration and making it stumble to the side. Vulpix immediately leapt back with Quick Attack, visibly sagging. Apep bared his fangs and slipped his tail around Snorlax's neck.

It was smart. Apep wasn't nearly long enough to use Wrap around Snorlax's chest but its neck was perfect for his size. He flickered with white energy as he slowly constricted around Snorlax, tail flicking.

Snorlax gagged, eyes flying open. It used Screech again, nearly sending Vulpix to the floor and Ash covering his ears, but ekans barely had ears anymore, mainly using vibrations to tell what was around them.

Apep reared back slightly and slammed Poison Fang between Snorlax's shoulders, his fangs bouncing off Snorlax's thick hide. With a frustrated hiss he tried again, twisting his head with enough force to break past the first layer and pump deadly poison into the normal type's body.

Snorlax bellowed, raining Fire Punches down Apep's scales. He flinched and hissed in pain, but his scales glowed to remove the burns and Coil had strengthened his defense enough that he was able to keep going, tightening around Snorlax's body until the pokemon let out one final shriek and fell to the ground, landing with a thud that made the tower shake and a single stone fall from the walls.

Ash sat back, eyes wide. Snorlax was collapsed on the ground, dust fluttering over its body, narrow eyes rolled back and closed. This wasn't the sleep after eating its fill, it was knocked out. His pokemon had managed to defeat a pissed-off Snorlax, and the normal types were often called some of the strongest physical pokemon out there, though this one wasn't fully grown.

There was only a moment's hesitation before he chucked the empty pokeball in his hand toward Snorlax. The red and white sphere flew through the air before bouncing off of its chest, sucking the pokemon into itself as red energy. Apep hissed as it fell onto the ground, no neck to wrap around.

It was an instant capture. Ash grinned.

But he wouldn't be keeping the pokemon. As powerful and useful as they were, he just didn't have nearly enough funds to be able to feed it. Eating nine hundred pounds of food a week wasn't something a rookie trainer like him could keep up, and he and his pokemon would suffer if he tried. To the League this pokemon would go, where it would be safely released in a place very far from the seemingly traumatized pokemon of the Pokemon Tower.

All of the ghost types had been weak and tired, forced to either find food or become food for Snorlax. He'd ask the League to keep it off limits for just a little while longer, let the ghosts recover, but he didn't have very much say at all in this matter. He was, after all, just another trainer.

But it wouldn't be that way for long.

Vulpix and Apep both came over to him, visibly exhausted from the battle. He crouched down and stroked over their heads, frowning at the little heat escaping from Vulpix's fur. She must have been only a few minutes away from passing out.

He recalled both of them, carefully setting Snorlax's pokeball away from his team. He could have Professor Oak contact the League to give it over, but first he was healing his pokemon.

As he turned, his shadow grew a pair of gleaming red eyes. Gengar floated back out, grinning madly with poison drenched fangs. Ash narrowed his eyes but the ghost did nothing, merely look at him. After another second, it cackled and sped upward, disappearing through the wooden floor.

Ash sighed, then started the trek back downstairs. He'd have to find a new way over the gate.

* * *

Nursing a few bruises, Ash finished the journey and arrived at the front doors of the Pokecenter. It hadn't been his brightest idea to jump over the gate but everything had turned out _fine_ in the end.

The town was still empty, a breeze rustling a group of dead leaves crackling over the ground. Moonlight danced over the lavender stones and spilled over the roofs and walls of the town's houses. But he had passed a house with the curtains drawn away from the window, a moderately confused expression on the woman's face peering out. She hadn't seemed to see him.

He stretched, keeping a careful eye around him. The ghostly presence hadn't left the town but it had lifted, the edge taken away.

The Pokecenter doors opened easily, the glass catching the light and reflecting it over the dark room. There were no lights on inside the building but the moonlight through the glass dome was enough to light up most everything.

Nurse Joy didn't seem to have moved at all, even though she should have already gone to sleep and let her assistant take over. Her back was straight and her arms tight against her side.

But her eyes flicked away from the wall and met Ash's, her gaze brighter than it had been before. She frowned, the bare edges of her lips tilting downward. But that was more emotion than before.

"Can you heal my pokemon, please?" Ash said, walking closer until he was at the edge of the counter.

She put her hand forward and he set his four pokeballs into it. Nurse Joy frowned, pointing to the fifth pokeball on his belt. "Would you like me to heal your other pokemon as well?"

"No." He shook his head. "That's actually a snorlax. It had broken into the Pokemon Tower and attacked the ghosts there in a hunger rage. They were forced to find it food or become food themselves and I think that might have been what was causing all of the strange energy around the town. It should be going away soon, but I would probably call the League. Are you allowed to do that?"

Nurse Joy blinked. "I am perfectly capable of talking to the League. Your pokemon took down a snorlax?"

"I don't think it was quite fully grown yet," he offered a bit meekly.

More life flowed into her body, and she straightened in a bit more human manner. "Full Restores on all of your pokemon. Only one isn't in its youngest state and your nidorino has only recently evolved, am I correct? It's a miracle something worse didn't happen. What were they all injured by?"

"Siren - oh sorry, the frillish - was hit by an Iron Head but healed herself a bit with Recover and Absorb but was knocked out by Thunder Punch. I recalled my nidorino after Body Slam, though I don't know whether he passed out. He was hit by Fire Punch before. Ekans was hit by a lot of Fire Punches but he was still conscious. I think Vulpix didn't get hurt but she's exhausted," he said, trying to remember everything that had happened in the fight. It had gone by in a blur of action.

Nurse Joy nodded, slipping his pokeballs into a special machine off to the side of the regular ones. _Full Restore_ was printed on the side, the letters clean and evenly spaced. He would be able to congratulate his pokemon only a couple of minutes after the fight with Full Restores, and a grin slipped over his face.

Indeed, only a minutes later Nurse Joy handed over his pokeballs, all of them bright and shiny. He clipped them onto his belt and pulled off the snorlax, but she shook her head, raising a hand. Already, she seemed so much more alive, moving with a precision her earlier robotic movements hadn't had.

"I can only call the League, but you'll have to use the pokemon transfer machine in the back. Well, of course I could use it, but I think you'd like the pokemon to be sent over using your account," she said, actually smiling. The presence had retracted all but the barest tips of its claws and the effect was being felt by everyone. Ash's psychic barriers were back to being present in his mind instead of crushed under the ghostly energy.

He smiled at her. "Thanks. Just tell me when you get it ready. Also, where's the light switch? As much as I like the moonlight, I think we might need a little more to do everything right."

"What?" Staring around as if for the first time, Nurse Joy frowned and narrowed her eyes. "I didn't turn off the lights."

But the Pokecenter was still dark, the back corner dripping with shadows. The moonlight couldn't seem to reach the darkness in the back, bouncing off of something covering the back corner.

Ash tensed just as the shadows slithered away.

Four people were revealed, each in a group of two. Black clothing, pants and long sleeved shirts. Hats. Two of them had something silver against their side, supported by a thick belt and gleaming in the light. All of the four had two pokeballs on their waist, only the regular type. A kadabra lowered its spoon, the psychic barrier that had been raised in place falling thickly.

Crimson Rs glittered on their chest.

Ash's muscles each tightened of their own accord, freezing him in place. Team Rocket was here, but he didn't know why. He kind of doubted that these four grunts had the firepower to send a snorlax into a rage and then direct it to the Pokemon Tower, not that they'd want to. They'd probably just want to capture it for themselves.

He narrowed his eyes. That was probably exactly why they were here in the Pokecenter.

"Team Rocket has been so kind and decided to take the whole transferring business off of your hands," one of the grunts said, stepping forward. A man with thick brown hair and a permanent sneer. "I've heard it can be very time consuming, and that's not anything we'd like to wish on such an up-and-coming trainer such as yourself. Hand over the snorlax, please, and we'll take good care to send it to the League." He grinned. "Or at least to Team Rocket's League."

All of the grunts turned every so slightly to show their pokeballs. Eight of them, including the kadabra. These were higher level grunts than the ones he had seen at Mount Moon, but there was a difference.

At Mount Moon, he had been taken unaware without his pokemon ready. He hadn't ever seen them before and was in a dark tunnel underneath a mountain with only two pokemon. But this time, he had four powerful pokemon capable of taking on four Team Rocket grunts. He wasn't scared.

He grabbed his pokemon's pokeballs and tossed them out.

In four bursts of scarlet light, his pokemon appeared. All of them peered around, still tense from the fight with the snorlax, but within a second their eyes slammed into Team Rocket.

Apep reared furiously and hissed, tail rattling so hard it slammed into the ground. His six feet quivered with rage. Ro bellowed, tensing. All of his barbs much longer with his evolution extended, dripping. His horn weeped poison. Siren had never met Team Rocket before to his knowledge, so Ash was definitely surprised when she reacted just as intensively. Her dull eyes gleamed with power as Night Shades trembled up and down her arms, flickering with the gleam of ghost energy. Water dripped off her tentacles, hissing as it splashed over the ground.

But the worst reaction was Vulpix.

Fire burst into life around her, her fur heating up enough to glow with heat as actual embers slipped from her snarling jaw, crackling over the ground. Heat exploded out in a shockwave, warming the room to almost uncomfortable levels. Smoke trickled from the ground as she stepped onto tiles, fury and rage and pain crackling in her eyes.

He had promised her revenge when she had joined him. She looked like she wanted it.

Ash grinned. The grunts looked a little more nervous, but they snatched up their pokeballs and hurtled them forward.

It seemed that while they had more pokemon, they weren't much stronger. Three raticates alone, only two with fangs that actually extended out of their mouth, while the other was young enough it still had the teeth of a rattata. One grimer, which was a little more exotic. A zubat immediately screeched after coming out, echolocation dancing over the room to allow it to see, though one golbat took to the skies immediately and snarled with enormous fangs.

The kadabra moved forward to float next to what Ash guessed was the leader, the man who had been talking. A houndour padded behind his feet, fire flickering from its jaws. There was no flinch from the psychic pokemon being so close to a dark type, no emotion except for blankness in its eyes. Whatever Team Rocket had done to these pokemon, it shattered the line between humane and evil.

Ash believed in his pokemon. They were strong enough to take down a snorlax and the group in front of him only had two evolved pokemon and mostly poison types, which all of his pokemon could counter. He only had a few commands to give, all of which were simple. He'd let his pokemon run this show.

"Siren, take the kadabra. Keep away from the houndour. Ro, try and take down the fliers. Apep, Vulpix - bring them down."

He turned to face Nurse Joy, who still looked like she was coming out of a long dream. "Nurse Joy, please call the League. We'll take care of these." She nodded, ducking under the counter before the grunts could start to care about her. A door opened and she slipped through, a phone visible through the glass before she covered it up. Ash hadn't seen a chansey, which was uncommon but understandable. Lavender Town was not too popular and chansey were hard to find for every Nurse Joy.

"Go!" He barked.

Ro bellowed, electricity crackling over his entire body. It concentrated toward his horn before blasting off in a wave of burning yellow. The zubat shrieked as it was hit, using echolocation desperately, but another wave of lightning curved through the air and slammed it into the ground.

The golbat spat poison but it dripped harmlessly off of Ro's skin, sliding right past the electricity beginning to emerge again. It seemed to realize it was in trouble and began to fly higher, but Ro didn't even look as he fired another Shock Wave. The electricity immediately shot upward, catching the pokemon in the wing and hurtling it toward the ground, where it was promptly met with one of Ro's Horn Attacks.

Siren floated high into the ground, out of the way of the houndour's powerful jaws. Her arms snapped forward and threw two Night Shades at the kadabra, which blinked up at her with grey eyes. It used Teleport and appeared in front of Siren, raising its hands. Its eyes gleamed blue.

She giggled wickedly and spat a Bubblebeam in its face. The kadabra shook itself, dripping, only for a Shock Wave to slam into its chest and hurl it to the ground. The water raised the attack to deadly proportions and with two gleaming Night Shades to the chest, it was down for the count.

Vulpix targeted the raticates with a fury Ash hadn't seen in her before. Her three tails burned and he remembered that they had thought that a raticate had probably bitten off her others with Hyper Fang, which one of the pokemon was currently charging up, eyes narrowed. Vulpix never let it finish.

She slammed her paws into the ground, readied herself, and roared.

Fire exploded into the air, greedily sucking at the oxygen. Water sprinklers overhead began to blare an alarm but Vulpix just narrowed her eyes and all of the water that came down evaporated before it fell even a foot, steam trickling into the air. The alarm wailed on and by now the police department would be notified, heading here in order to catch Team Rocket in the act. But Ash needed to knock them out first.

The youngest raticate was almost instantly out with Vulpix's Flamethrower and the other two were heavily burned. She growled, her eyes stone. Green energy built in her throat, taking longer than her other regular moves, but after only a few seconds the raticates spent stumbling around she launched an Energy Ball, the green sphere crackling with arcs of emerald grass type energy. Another raticate down.

Apep threw himself at the grimer, which glared with beady black eyes. Its body flickered with a white-grey tone, preparing to use Pound, if Ash was going to guess. Apep merely leapt into the air, tail glowing silver, and cleaved the grimer in half.

The larger portion kept the eyes and mouth while the other splattered against the ground, the poison seeping into the tiles. Apep slammed another Iron Tail into the mixture, splitting it up for good, before casually raising a Protect to block a tongue of fire from Vulpix. A third Iron Tail and the grimer was unconscious on the ground.

Ash grinned just as something cold tapped against his back.

He tensed and immediately turned, only to meet the cold muzzle of a gun. The leader smirked down at him, houndour at his side.

There were few weapons in Kanto, or in the world. Because of pokemon, people hadn't seen much of a reason to invent more things when most pokemon, when trained well enough, had the ability to incapacitate or even kill humans with their abilities and moves. Officer Jennys had a few in the larger cities, but the most damage they did was paralysis and possible unconsciousness. Someone had named them tasers, but they were ni impossible to get your hands on them and all were closely guarded by the League. There were rumors of guns that used air pressure to fire pellets, but they really didn't have a way to get any sort of explosion to fire them farther or harder.

But the gun against his side wasn't either of those - it was bulky but small in overall size, easily held in one hand. Mainly silver with criss-crossing wires running over it, not seeming to be perfected yet. Still a prototype? That would explain why Team Rocket had it - they stole almost everything they had.

It wasn't an explosive, which harnessed electricity and activated it with fire energy. They were tricky to make without exploding the two energies together, but the League had managed it. Officer Jenny probably used one. Was she coming here?

The gun brought him back to the present. Yellow light trickled from the muzzle, where a hole large enough to stick a thumb it was. He had honestly no idea what the gun could do.

"Kid, I'd suggest calling off all of your pokemon," the leader hissed. His eyes were burning pinpricks of light.

Vulpix had taken out the final raticate and now only the houndour was left, strong by the leader's side. The grunts were hurriedly recalling their pokemon and walking back toward their leader. Another one pulled out his gun, angling it toward Ash's face.

The leader growled as Ash didn't move, his pokemon glaring at the grunts with burning eyes and coming closer. Gun or not, if he hurt Ash there was a very little chance they'd be getting out of here unharmed.

The man's eyes flicked down to the untouched pokeball on Ash's side, the snorlax. His hand twitched.

The gun barked in his hand.

A ball of electricity exploded from the tip, crackling. It hit Ash's chest and he yelped, but the force wasn't terrible. His side burned from the heat of the gun but it wasn't nearly powerful enough to even cause a bruise.

The real problem came when he tried to step away from the man. Lightning raced over his skin, the current sticking his hair straight up, but he wasn't able to move freely, only in small jerks. Paralysis. It was a human-made version of Thunder Wave.

Or Psychic. His heartbeat picked up and his arms started to tremble. Was that blue in front of his eyes? He couldn't close his eyelids. Arceus, he wasn't able to move at all and he was frozen and Team Rocket was right there-

A roar split the room.

Light spilled over his eyes, and his gaze immediately shot toward his pokemon. More precisely, one of them.

The leader had tried to move after he had fired the gun, reaching down to take the pokeball, but now he glanced over at the pokemon and promptly froze.

Apep glared with glowing golden eyes, energy flickering over his body like it had only a few nights ago. It came out from underneath his scales and burned, a writhing mass of silver white. It spread over his entire form and he began to change.

Scales darkened and thickened, changing from partially opaque to fully colored. His rattle twitched once before smoothing over, scales emerging where golden circle that had made up his rattle had been.

Ash tensed as much as he could. If Apep rejected the evolution again, then he would have to knock himself out. Then Team Rocket would be able to get away and he'd still be frozen here-

Apep looked down at his hood, which was expanding below his head, and shrieked with joy. He threw his head back and let the energy fully flow over his body, stretching him out like a pipette. Seven feet, eight feet, nine, ten- he just kept growing and growing as his first and final evolution took place.

With a roar, an arbok slammed into the ground.

He towered above the rockets, the tip of his head nearly six feet above the ground. His full length was more than double what he had been before, rich purple scales nearly as large as Ash's fist. His rattle was gone but new muscles gleaming under his skin, his midsection nearly as large as Ash's entire chest. His mouth was filled with countless enormous fangs, much more than the four he had previously. A pale pink tongue flicked from between his fangs.

But the biggest change was his hood.

Ash had done research on arbok and had seen their pictures many times before. They were rather frightening to look at and Apep was no different, but he was different.

Arbok normally came out of their evolution at about eleven feet long. Apep was nearly fifteen. He was thinner, scales smaller, hood tucked closer to his body even when fully extended out.

And the design was all wrong. Instead of burning red and orange eyes outlined with black, a thick black V design of eyebrows, and a gaping black mouth, he had thick black lines to make up a pair of narrowed circular eyes. A black slash making up a frowned mouth was beneath those and six pure white scales made up bared fangs. Black scales were randomly spotted around the face, making the entire thing seem much darker than Apep's other coloration.

He was terrifying and strong and powerful and absolutely pissed off. Without even a move, he whipped his tail around and shattered the gun still in the leader's hand with deadly precision. Scrap metal thudded against the ground.

Team Rocket seemed far from confident. Houndour had once stood a foot above Apep but now, with the cobra pokemon fully raised up, it was the shorter by about four feet. It bared its fangs and looked up, but a single glance at the face on Apep's hood and it flinched, muscles tight, unable to perform a move.

Apep lunged forward and sank his fangs into the houndour's chest. With an ease obviously insulting, he flung the writhing pokemon into the closest wall where it slid to the ground, limp.

The leader backed away slowly, hands raised in an innocent position above his head. He dropped what little remained of his gun on the ground and the other grunt who had one did the same. A single Poison Sting burning with toxicity began to eat away at the metal, turning it to a melted mass of bubbling slag.

Apep hissed, and the sound was like thunder. Using the tip of his tail, he made it gleam with Iron Tail before slamming it into the ground, breaking through the tiles with uncanny ease. A grounding pole. He offered a single coil to Ash, brushing it against his leg.

The effect was instant. Apep hissed with pain as the electricity flowed out of Ash and through him, curing his paralysis and flowing into the ground. He had figured it out a while ago but while it worked with lightning, pokemon's electricity didn't work the same. It wanted to attack - and so while they could get it out of their bodies and into the ground, it still hurt them greatly. Helped with paralysis though, and he was definitely trying to teach it to all of his pokemon. Apep had always been a fast learner.

Team Rocket, at Ash's gesture, slowly backed up into a corner, though their eyes were fixed on the gently swaying Apep. They each handed over their pokeballs, though the leader scowled and nearly didn't obey when Ash got to him. A single glare from Apep and that problem was solved. He recalled the houndour.

His pokemon walked up to him. Ro rumbled, retracting his barbs and shaking the last of the golbat's poison off of his skin. Vulpix still glowed with fire but nothing had touched her. Siren giggled, touching his shoulder with her arm.

They all headed closer to the grunts, though Apep didn't need any help guarding them. Siren's almost cackle kept one grunt from taking a step forward, though Apep stretched out farther and completely covered their escape unless they wanted to walk over his scales. Ro tensed his legs, eyes flicking over their bodies. He seemed a bit surprised at the number of weak spots that became apparent to him with Focus Energy, rumbling them out.

Vulpix still seemed furious, spitting fire. One grunt - the owner of one of the raticates, Ash remembered - hissed as embers crackled next to his feet, several popping against his skin. The rough scent of burning hair filled the room, but it wasn't enough for her. Fire flickered behind her eyes until Ash whistled, calling her off.

Ash walked back over to the counter, stepping carefully over the remaining fires. Reaching behind the counter, he grabbed a small bag used to transport fragile medical supplies and dumped the grunts' pokeballs inside.

He couldn't see Nurse Joy through the glass of the door she had disappeared through. With a last glance over toward Apep who was still keeping the grunts frozen, he knocked rather politely on the door.

Nurse Joy's face appeared, and now she looked fully awake from the ghostly presence. Her eyes were narrowed and a pokeball was tight in her hand, but when she saw Ash she relaxed. Ash stepped back to let her through after she unlocked the door.

They walked back into the room where Nurse Joy promptly froze and prepared to throw her pokeball. Ash tensed, ready to command his pokemon, but he still only saw Apep. Realization hit him.

"Stop! That's my pokemon!" He shouted, freezing her in the act. She glanced back over the room, finally noticing that Apep was keeping the Rocket grunts from escaping instead of protecting them. Her shoulder sagged.

"I've called the League but my call was cut off by the fire alarm. The police department should be here soon and Officer Jenny should be able to call backup to get these criminals into prison cells."

The leader flinched away from her furious glare.

"Did any of your pokemon get hurt?"

"Not a single hit landed on them," he said, his chest puffed up. "But Apep did evolve. Do you think you could check him over? His pattern isn't right and I don't think he should be this long."

Nurse Joy nodded, glancing over the arbok with a watching eye. "Arbok have been known to have different patterns in different regions, but if you got him from Professor Oak he's most likely Kanto born and raised. I can do that tonight and give you the results tomorrow morning, if that's okay?"

He grinned and thanked her. Not a minute later, the glass doors open and Officer Jenny walked in, an enormous arcanine watched with shrewd eyes from behind the glass. There was a scowl on her face but none of the blankness the ghostly presence had caused. Her police outfit was pristine and her blue hair combed back, sharp eyes flicking over the entire room before she entered.

"I got a fire alarm warning from here but I'm thinking there's another problem?" She honestly growled as she saw the Team Rocket grunts, hands clenching into fists by her side. "That'll do it."

Ash stood forward. "They were hiding in here under a psychic barrier, but when they revealed themselves I was able to fight them off. I think my vulpix triggered the alarm, sorry about that."

She waved her hand. "That's hardly a problem. Any reason they were going after you?"

The grunts seemed almost miffed to be talked about while they were standing right there, though they didn't move with the threat of a powerful arbok still looming very presently overhead.

"I went into the Pokemon Tower and my ghost type talked to a gengar, I think? They showed me a snorlax on one of the upper floors - please don't get mad - and I managed to knock it out and capture it because I think it was forcing the ghost types to find it food or else it ate them. Or something like that. I was about to give it over to the League when they attacked me."

He was much less confident telling the story to Officer Jenny than Nurse Joy. Maybe it was because he had disobeyed the League and had gone into the Pokemon Tower upper levels, which was illegal. A pressure built in the back of his throat.

Officer Jenny snorted. "Ballsy, kid. I'll put it in the report but no black spot on your record. We've had Ace trainers crawling all over this town for weeks trying to figure out what was causing that energy and they finally just guessed it was the number of ghosts. I'm guessing the ghosts hid it or something?"

He nodded.

"Fuck. Anything hurt?"

"I think it might have killed several ghosts before I go there," he offered, knuckles white. Pokemon killed pokemon, he knew that, but ghosts were nearly defenseless against the powerhouse that was the snorlax.

"And then the Rocket shits showed up and your arbok managed to knock out their pokemon?"

Ash barely hid his preening at his starter. "He evolved once the leader shot me. It was something like a Thunder Wave gun, I think? Electricity that paralyzed me, but my arbok used a grounding pole with Iron Tail to get it out of my system."

Officer Jenny whistled as she stared over the room. Blackened tiles still kept a few embers burning from Vulpix and Siren's missed Night Shades had carved thin trenches into the floor. Ro had probably been the least destructive, which was a good thing because if he had missed with his Horn Attack he could have taken a wall out.

"I've actually heard of you from Pewter and Viridian. Bit of a reputation you're gaining among the police departments, which could be a bad thing if you ever get strong enough for us to ask for favors." She actually snickered at the thought.

"Three encounters with Team Rocket and you're only… two? Three months into your journey, kid? You've either got the worst luck in the galaxy or a backbone of solid steel. Either way, good job. I'll get the League ready and you can send over the snorlax tonight, I'd prefer it sooner rather than later. I'm sure I can find some sort of prize for you, but I'm guessing you don't want one of their shitty pokemon."

Ash blinked. "Wait, you give out pokemon as rewards?"

"Of course. The League handles all criminal, abandoned, mistreated, or abused pokemon but after we get them through reconditioning, there's not much we can do instead of giving them to gym leaders, which is hard enough because we've got to find a properly strong pokemon of the right typing. Surge's got that little training place from the war in his gym he uses every now and then for pokemon that need to learn basic skills again. We've had to send a lot of pokemon there from trainers who evolve their pokemon too fast or pokemon whose egg was broken before they were born. He's a good man despite the appearance he gives out, saved probably hundreds from being locked in their pokeballs for the rest of their lives."

She shook her head, blue hair swinging. "Back on topic. Yeah, reconditioned pokemon are handed out as rewards, though its got to be a good trainer. Perfect record or one that's showed genuine remorse and has done steps to recover from any black marks in the past. Who knows, maybe I'll find something for you. But don't expect it instantly, though I'll give you some sort of answer tomorrow."

Ash visibly perked up. Maybe he wouldn't have to catch a pokemon here for the tournament - he really wanted to get out as soon as possible. It was a nice town, but boy did he not like it here.

"Now scram, kid. I'll call you down some time tomorrow."

Officer Jenny whistled with her fingers in her mouth, the sound shrill and piercing. Her arcanine pushed open the doors with one massive paw and walked inside, its fur flickering with flames. Vulpix narrowed her eyes at it but didn't make any movement.

Apep turned his head slightly to stare at it in the eyes. Before, when he was an ekans, he might have been able to come up partially up its leg. Now he made eye contact, a little taller than the fire pokemon fully extended up.

It yipped cheerfully at him before crouching down, staring at the grunts. An ember sluggishly exploded near its mouth.

Seven more officers came into the building, pokeballs gleaming on their waist. All of them had batons on their hips but they didn't draw them. Three stepped forward and tossed their pokeballs, letting loose two growlithe and one tangela. The grass type reached out with its vines and snatched a hold of each of the grunts, gurgling happily.

The rockets yelped and thrashed as they were picked up, but the tangela seemed barely bothered by the weight of four humans as it waddled out of the Pokecenter, closely followed by a circling group of growlithe to make sure the rockets didn't try anything.

Ash stopped Officer Jenny before she left, handing over the bag of pokeballs. She blinked at them.

"They're the pokemon I took from the grunts. They're all knocked out but I don't think anyone was too hurt," he said, holding it out. She took them, prying open the top to glance inside. Her eyebrows raised.

"Eight pokemon, kid? Not bad." She grabbed onto the bag and tied it onto her belt with precise strokes. "Be here tomorrow."

And then she left the Pokecenter.

Ash immediately ran over to his pokemon, letting them crowd around him. Before, it had been mostly equal. Siren had floated above but he had still been able to look up and make eye contact.

Now, Apep towered above them all. The snake seemed honestly confused at how to move now that the adrenaline had worn off. He slithered forward and missed his destination by about ten feet, unsure of his own strength.

Ash stepped closer, placing a hand on his hood. Apep craned his neck toward him, golden eyes gleaming in their much larger sockets.

Moving slowly, he guided the snake's head down until he was lying fully on the ground, stretched out to his full length, a bit over fifteen feet. That was well over double his previous six and the thick corded muscles were impossible to ignore. His hood was still fully extended but by pressing on one side until it shrank, Ash was able to help Apep figure out how to retract the flaps until they were pressed against his side. He walked back to the middle of the circle, practically skipping with pride.

"You guys! Eight pokemon taken down in a matter of minutes! We've never done something that big before and none of you were hurt in the slightest!"

Vulpix yipped happily, but she stared up at Apep with a bit of jealousy. She had been beaten by him before, when he was just an ekans, but now, as an arbok, he could probably crush her well.

"Don't worry about that, girl," Ash soothed, rubbing between her ears. After a battle she was always fiercely powerful, and he could feel his skin begin to burn. But he smoothed her fur back before pulling away.

"Apep is going to be checked out by Nurse Joy tonight so we can make sure nothing went wrong. All of you as well - that was a difficult battle, even if it didn't feel like it." Holding up their pokeballs, he recalled them.

Except for Apep. He kept the snake out, still stretched across the ground, and walked closer.

"I'm so proud of you, bud. You're incredible, and I've never seen anyone have a more powerful pokemon than you. I don't know why you didn't want to evolve earlier but I'm happy you decided when you wanted to. And you're definitely special - look at that pattern! Fifteen feet long!"

Apep visibly preened, even though he stayed still. He really didn't know how to move with his new form.

"Nurse Joy is probably going to run some checks on you overnight, but she'll heal you of tiredness before we leave. I don't want you to be sleepy before we battle against trainers on the road."

Golden eyes gleamed at the thought, and Ash laughed before recalling his starter.

His starter.

When he had first gotten his pokemon, he had been a tiny snake trying to take on the world. His strength had grown over his journey but now he had exploded into power, power his other pokemon just didn't have yet. He knew his Apep would be strong and that was heavily clear now.

Nurse Joy walked closer as he stood fully up from his crouched position, stretching lightly. His muscles were still a bit sore from the paralysis and he was definitely going to find a way to combat that in his pokemon - it was absolutely terrible.

"I'll have your arbok ready by tomorrow, dear. I have a theory but I'd like to do some research before telling you."

He bobbed his head to accept that before trotting over to the desk. Taking the key form her, he practically ran to his room and threw himself on the bed. Tomorrow he'd figure out how strong Apep was and receive a prize from Officer Jenny. Excitement bubbled through his veins.

Unsurprisingly, it was a long, long time before he fell asleep.

The next morning dawned bright but he was already awake at that point, pacing around the front room of the Pokecenter fully clothed and still damp from a quick shower. He had sprinted down there but, when he didn't find Nurse Joy, grabbed something sweet to eat. Another smoothie, but this one had a bit more sweetness to it. Gnawing on the straw, he finally sat down on a couch to wait.

An instant later, a door opened and Nurse Joy walked through, holding four pokeballs. Ash exploded to his feet.

She chuckled lightly, gesturing him to follow her. He trotted through the door and into a thin hallway, taking a sharp right and emerging into a room for experiments and testing. Apep was partially curled up on the ground, dozing lightly.

Nurse Joy stepped closer, setting the four pokeballs into Ash's waiting hands and grabbing a piece of paper off of a counter. "I've just got a few questions. Has he showed a lot of interest in evolving before, and does he have any sort of rivalry with either your frillish or your nidorino?"

Ash blinked. "Yeah, he really wanted to evolve to become stronger than my nidorino. He actually began to evolve a few nights ago but stopped the process by knocking himself out - I don't know why, but he made it seem like the time wasn't right."

"Ah!" Nurse Joy smiled. "Well, that clarifies it. Ash, all arbok have a pattern specific to their region - I'm sure you've seen the Kanto pattern before." He nodded. "That is known as the defense pattern, as arbok have very thick scales. They also have another ability of flinch power, as weak foes who go face to face with the image may freeze and panic, as I'm sure you saw the Team Rocket grunts do. But a little known fact is that arbok have a few other patterns they're able to harness with a lot of inner strength and fortitude."

She held up three pictures, each of arbok's hood. One was a sort of grinning clown's face that was uniquely terrifying, another with wide eyes and a small mouth, and the last the one on Apep's scales.

"These three are variation patterns. The first is the invulnerability pattern, the second the attack, and the third the speed. Arbok with the first can become immune to the power of poison type moves instead of just being unable to be poisoned. Those with the second have a body built for incredible attack. The third, as with your arbok, have very streamlined bodies and a larger size in order to be able to go to incredible speeds."

Ash blinked.

"Now, while he'll never be able to reach jolteon levels of speed, your arbok should be quite the speedster. He won't have nearly the same level of defense as regular arbok but he should be much faster. Other than that, he is a very healthy pokemon who will be able to fight powerfully."

"I have already told him everything so you don't have to try and explain it again. I don't foresee any problems except for questions about his design, and there were no complications with his evolution."

"Thank you so much!" Ash grinned, quickly recalling his dozing friend. "Why did you want to know about his rivalries?"

Nurse Joy smiled at him. "Well, your nidorino and frillish aren't very fast pokemon, but they are very strong. If your arbok has been consistently losing to them, he could be thinking that getting faster may be the only way to be able to beat them. And with your nidorino being kingsize and even slower, that is most likely the way he has decided to be able to beat him. Be proud - it takes a lot of mental strength to reject evolution."

He opened his mouth to thank her again but she waved him off. "I believe Officer Jenny is in the front room."

Immediately, he turned and sprinted out of the room. Nurse Joy laughed loudly before following him at a much more sedate pace. CHildren. Never walking if they could run.

She was right - Officer Jenny had just stormed through the doors, an absolutely furious expression on her face. Ash almost flinched back and hesitantly walked closer, catching her attention. "What's wrong?"

Jenny growled. "That obvious?"

He nodded.

"Team Rocket attacked again, this time the Pokemon Tower. We were bringing the other grunts back when someone noticed, and by the time we got there they had managed to get away. We did catch a single teenager who probably joined recently and most likely won't be too much help."

"What'd they take?"

"Ghosts. They were all weakened by the snorlax and pretty easy to capture, though they didn't manage to get away with all of them. But it might be years until that number of ghosts come back to the tower with how many terrible things have been happening."

Ash stiffened. He had known about how weak the ghosts were and had even thought about alerting the League to keep trainers out to allow them to recover, but he hadn't had the faintest idea that Team Rocket might attack the Tower as well. That hadn't even crossed his mind in the slightest.

She sighed and dragged a hand over her face, shaking her shoulders. "But I'm not here to gripe to you. ABout your reward."

He shoved the other thoughts away and focused on her. "Yes?"

"I've got two options for your reward. One, I give you a big fat check with seven thousand dollars on it right now. Cash it in with any Nurse Joy pretty much anywhere and buy whatever the hell you want."

The money would be nice, but he had a pretty good haul right now. Though he didn't shake his head, he listened on.

"Or two, I get a shitton of work and find you a pokemon. I have no idea what I could get you, but Team Rocket has become far more active than normal recently. I'll be able to find you something from them - hell, you might capture the grunt yourself, with the way things have been going."

Ash perked up. That was a no brainer. "I'd like number two, please. And I'm sorry about the work."

She waved him off. "I thought as much. But I will warn you - it might be up to a month before I can find you something that'll work well enough with reconditioning. And I'll say this again - you will have absolutely no idea what pokemon I will find."

He nodded again.

"Alright then. Give me your pokedex, I'll put a bit more of a private line so I can tell you if I get a lead. Lavender Town comes first but with two attacks in a single day, I should be able to find you something in these pokemon coming up."

"Thank you," he said, handing over his identification device.

She smiled at him, a real one, fingers dancing as she entered a number into his contacts. "Thanks for the thanks. Now, I'm betting you're going to skedaddle back to Vermillion for the tournament, right? Says on your profile you managed to beat Surge. You probably won't get the pokemon until a couple weeks after the tournament at the latest, though I'll try to get it a bit sooner."

He promptly thanked her again, to which she waved off. Saying a goodbye to Nurse Joy, she walked back to her police department, probably to interrogate the grunt she had captured. Ash shuddered. He did not want to be on the receiving end of Officer Jenny's questions, especially not this one.

Nurse Joy waved him over, scribbling something down on a piece of paper. "Here. I managed to find a League article on the speed variation, though it's a bit outdated. Should have a few facts on it."

"Thanks, Nurse Joy. Let's give the snorlax over, and then I think I'm going to go."

She sighed. "I expected that, and there's no way I could keep you here. The whole process shouldn't take that long anyway. Stay safe, Ash, and make sure to keep that arbok close to you. He'll be powerful once you train him right."

Ash grinned. "I know."

When he got back on the road, he felt a bit like he'd been suckerpunched. The last day had been action-packed, far more than his quiet days of walking down routes had been. Going into the Pokemon Tower, breaking the law, fighting a snorlax, fighting Team Rocket, Apep evolving, a promise of a new pokemon… it was all so much. Sighing, he brushed his hair away from his face.

But now he had only two weeks to get back to Vermillion and then to the SS Anne, and then to the tournament. There was a pokemon prize for that as well- maybe he'd even get his pokemon reward right after. It would be difficult to raise two at the same time but he knew he'd be able to handle it.

He looked over the bridges of Route 12 and readied a pokeball. Apep needed the time to get used to his new body, but he didn't expect it to take long. He had only grown in length and gained a hood, nothing like Ro's evolution in nidoking. It wouldn't be difficult at all.

It was difficult.

Apep fell into the water a grand total of four times, hissing furiously. His new strength made him shoot forward while his weight promptly stopped him from most of his old movements. He kept rattling his tail in frustration only to notice he didn't have a rattle anymore, and then had nearly smacked Ash off the bridges when he flared his hood in annoyance.

But by the end of the day, when they reached the end of Route 12 and transitioned back to sweet sweet dirt, Apep had started to get the hang of it. He occasionally slammed into trees but his much thicker scales prevented most of the damage and he had actually bent a tree backward one time.

At the end of the day, he released all of his pokemon and began training.

Apep was much, much stronger. He perfected Acid Spray nearly on the tenth try, and the first eight were all trying to figure out how to access his new poison glands. With his evolution, he had doubled his glands, as each of his new fangs had a new gland able of producing far more poison at far more toxic levels. Sickening green poison slammed into the ground, killing the grass almost instantly.

Gunk Shot would still take a while, but not much longer. No, what Ash was excited about were the new moves Apep could learn.

Ice Fang, Thunder Fang, and Fire Fang.

He had seen the power of those elements in Snorlax's punches, but Apep could eventually learn to both inject venom as well as harness an element when he bit down. So Ash threw his pokemon into learning Bite first, which was almost ridiculously easy with his new fangs. He already knew dark energy with Payback and in only a day had learned Bite. A day with a rock and many potions taught him Crunch.

Four moves in under a month.

Thankfully, it was taking him a bit of time to learn the others, otherwise Ash probably would have keeled over from sheer pride. He had started with Fire Fang, both to combat steel types as well as he had a fire type to help teach. Vulpix didn't really know how to teach and she didn't know the move but she did her best.

Unfortunately, her best was spitting Embers at Apep while he used Bite. Many burnt mouths later, Ash had almost given up until two days before they arrived at Vermillion, a single ember appeared in Apep's mouth of his own accord.

On the last day, he managed to produce a bit of heat, enough to cause discomfort. In the heat of battle he could burn his opponent, but Ash needed him to be able to do that on command.

His other pokemon were progressing as well. Vulpix had finally learned Iron Tail and was able to separate her three tails to hit a pokemon multiple times and was working on strengthening her Energy Ball slightly. Ro still took a few heartbeats too long but Focus Energy was down nicely, which was wonderful because it was a very difficult move to learn. Siren had perfected Absorb and worked a bit on shooting Night Shades faster, though that didn't need much work.

But not everything was nice. Brock had been right, on that message from almost three months ago.

When Apep was an ekans, he hadn't been that threatening. On a battlefield he had a powerful presence but off that, when he was traveling next to Ash, the skinny little snake barely drew attention to him at all. He just… existed, as much as any of Ash's other pokemon did, for other trainers.

But since he evolved, he wasn't just a tiny snake anymore. Six feet was impressive but fifteen was frightening. Having an enormous hood with narrowed eyes and bared fangs placed right above or next to Ash's head as he walked casually down the path did not help his image in the slightest.

People flinched as he walked by. Apep had over a dozen fangs, all shining and dagger sharp, and it was more comfortable to have his mouth slightly open as he traveled. The sight of those pearly whites hadn't exactly installed confidence in the trainers he walked past, and that was even without his size.

His challenges dropped to nearly zero. Beginners would scamper by, which was fine with him - they weren't a challenge for his pokemon and there wasn't much a reason to fight them anyway. But the rookies, like him, didn't seem nearly so confident even though machokes and kadabras and charmeleons trotted behind their heels. He knew Apep was big but he didn't understand the fear until what Brock had said hit home.

Team Rocket was known for three pokemon - zubat, raticate, and arbok.

Though people never figured out where they managed to get so many of them, it was generally assumed they had a secret breeding farm somewhere the League hadn't managed to find yet. Poison types were the easiest to train into pain and destruction, though dark types were better. But dark types were rare, and so Team Rocket turned to the deadly poison types. And arbok were the cover boy for poison types.

While nidoran and the line had the ability Poison Point, no other poison type in Kanto had the sheer amount of poison glands that arbok did. Every part of their body was a weapon, even their poisonous blood. And snakes were already regarded as suspicious because of a stupid story from so long ago. Poison and snake made everyone dislike them, and sprinkle in some Team Rocket and you've got a cake of sadness.

For Apep and Ash, at least.

But he kept his head up high and marched on. He could have recalled Apep but the snake needed exercise, something he was probably not going to get on a boat in the middle of the ocean. Vulpix occasionally joined him but only when she wanted to, and with the couple of storms he had suffered through in the grass fields, she preferred to stay dry and in her pokeball.

After a week and five days, he arrived back in Vermillion City. He was a bit disappointed, as Officer Jenny hadn't called at all. No updates on his pokemon, but he didn't have time to worry about that now. Ash quickly recalled Apep, stroking the snake's scales. The narrow streets just weren't the best place for a fifteen foot long predator.

And especially when Vermillion looked like it did now.

The city _hummed_.

Everywhere he was, there were thousands of voices filling up any quiet he could have had. People arrived by the hundreds in preparation for the tournament and every single restaurant was filled to the bursting with people despite it being neither lunch nor dinner time but somewhere in the middle. Hotels had every room light on and several places offered housing for extreme prices but people paid it anyway, walking inside.

The line to the gym snaked over half a mile through the city.

Trainers of every age and size tossed pokeballs and chatted with each other as they waited under the blistering sun, though most of them probably wouldn't be able to fight today. There were tents in people's arms and they looked completely ready to wait the entire night to be able to keep their spot.

Ash became very aware of his ticket, tucked into a pocket in his backpack, and made a mental note to protect it.

But he probably wouldn't be able to talk to Surge until after the gym closed, so he'd just find a room and do a little more research on the tournament and his pokemon's strategies. There was a rumor that some battles might be fought using two pokemon at the same time, which wasn't something he had prepared for.

The Pokecenter was stuffed to the brim. Nurse Joy looked beyond exhausted and didn't seem to remember her own name let alone him, and had apologized greatly before saying that there was no room in the building and people were already sleeping in the front room. She had already closed down the building to non-trainers even though they'd have to pay just to try and keep trainers in.

But that was fine with him, though a little disappointing. Following her suggestion, he walked a bit into the forest and set up camp, making sure to have a pokemon out at all times to make sure no other trainer came in and tried to steal his ticket. Pulling out his pokedex, he sat back and stroked Vulpix's ears.

When the clock ticked over to nine, he packed everything back up, there was no point in risking anything being stolen. It was only a ten minute trek back to the city and then fifteen minutes to fight his way to the doors of the gym.

The two trainers in the front looked overwhelmed as they fended off trainers from every angle, but they still had a sneer for him. He was almost touched. "Scram, baby. No challenges after the gym closes."

He shook his head. "I'm here to see Surge. I have a few questions for him."

"Oh really?" The girl shook her head. "Not a chance. Get out of here."

He had been facing people who thought he was Team Rocket for the past week. This was nothing. With a shrug, he pushed past them and stormed through the doors.

They both yelped but he was already inside, pushing the doors closed behind him. The gym was still brightly lit though several lights were shut off.

Surge stood in the middle of the room, talking quietly to Raichu. The electric type looked a bit worn, though not by much. It chittered and pointed toward the door, to which Surge narrowed his eyes and stood up, flexing his muscles.

His expression cleared as he saw Ash and he chuckled, marching over. Ash guessed the two trainers were expecting Surge to throw him out and cheerfully walked away from the door, grinning.

"Nice to see you, runt. Almost didn't think you'd make it here in time."

Ash shrugged. "I've still got another day. It leaves tomorrow, right?"

Surge nodded, a gleam in his eye. "So! You've come to see me again, and I don't think you're here for a shitty pep talk."

"Just a question. I've still only got four pokemon - didn't really spend much time in Lavender - and I was wondering whether I'll be at too much of a disadvantage at the tournament or something."

Surge scratched the back of his neck. "One on one, two on two, two on two, three on three, I think. One of those twos is two pokemon on the battlefield at the same time. So it'll suck to not have a lot of variety but you shouldn't be shit out of luck, if that's what you're asking."

Ash grinned. "That's fine. I think you'll be impressed by a certain pokemon of mine."

Surge raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms. Raichu chittered and ran over from the field, leaping up onto the man's shoulders once again. The yellow of the pokemon matched the electric tone of Surge's shirt. "Really?"

He grinned wider and tossed Apep's pokeball onto the field.

The arbok reared instantly as he was released, towering above the field with a fanged leer. When he saw Surge, he hissed. His hood snapped out, baring the growling face upon the room.

"Oho!" Surge laughed, stepping closer. "Well brat, I haven't seen a speed variation in over ten years. Good to know some of my words stuck in your tiny ass head."

Ash just chuckled. Surge had harsh words but he had been right - Apep was built for speed, now even more so. While he had been training his pokemon for speed a little, now he had been focusing almost thirty minutes every day on sprints for all of his pokemon, and the effects were showing. Apep, despite his size, beat all of them every time, though Vulpix was always a close second.

Surge stared appreciatively at the snake. "He's a good color, good size, though his fangs are a bit dull. Get him biting something with some substance behind it instead of just sticks - you ever hear of the Totodile Trainer?"

Ash shook his head, thinking. Totodile were known for their jaw strength, their evolutions more so.

"Well, look into it. That'd definitely help him for biting strength. Other than that, hey. You didn't fuck up completely. Color me impressed."

He thanked the man, who, despite his boisterous attitude, looked about ready to fall asleep right there. Apep hissed once more in Surge's face as he was recalled, which prompted a laugh. When he left the gym, he was greeted by two scowling trainers, who obviously hadn't expected him to not be booted out by Surge. He tipped his hat to them as he walked through the squabbling trainers.

That night, he trained hard. The next day, he trained harder. His pokemon were tired but after twenty minutes of waiting in a line at the Pokecenter, they were ready and raring to go. The tournament would be the real test of his power and he was prepared to meet it head on - four pokemon, only two evolved, one of them considered Team Rocket's go-to pokemon, another thought to be the only docile fire type.

The sun burned overhead as he walked onto the dock, holding his ticket tightly. People shouted from the sidelines, offering money for tickets. People were shuffled into three lines for convenience. He joined his, staring toward the horizon.

A silver ship gleamed on the water.

The SS Anne.

* * *

Proton steepled his fingers, a dark scowl on his face. His stupid grunts had one mission - find the stupid brat who had managed to capture the snorlax before their plans were ready and take it from them. And they had failed to do such a simple task, even when he had trusted them with the prototype of their new gun.

At least the others hadn't failed, though they hadn't captured nearly as much as he would have liked. They had left one behind but the boy hadn't known anything, only the name of his executive. One of them inched toward him, a very hesitant expression on his face. There was a pokeball in his hand.

"Sir, we found the strongest ghost type in the entire tower. It's a gengar, and it knocked out several dark types before we could capture it."

He raised an eyebrow, interested. "How submissive are the drugs making it?"

"Submissive enough sir, but we suggest one more dose before you try and train it. It might attack you if it doesn't understand-"

Proton shook his head and the grunt instantly shut up. "There is no need for another set of drugs. I will… train it myself."

The pokeball in his hands seemed to burn from cold, shivering. The strongest ghost type Team Rocket had to offer, a gengar. And he had a few days to train it before his newest accomplishment would take place, one that would show the might of Team Rocket.

He set the pokeball on his waist, next to five other gleaming pokeballs. All of them would show their worth.

The SS Anne was a challenge, and he would gladly answer the call.

* * *

 **EDIT: 7/3/18 I have updated all fo the chapters! Minor changes for most but it might be better to read the whole thing over once again. Maybe. IDK just go nuts**

 **Oh boy. Oh boy.**

 **Hey guys, I'm back! Aren't you proud of me?**

 **Also, I think I've fully jumped into twenty thousand word chapters. This one is about twenty one so that's pretty cool. I'm proud.**

 **Writing camp was pretty awesome and this chapter was awesome as well! I'm super proud of how this one turned out. Ash was right - a ton happened, a lot more than normal for my chapters. Surge Advice ™, training, Snorlax, Team Rocket, evolution, promise of a new pokemon, training, SS Anne! Geez.**

 **But yeah! We're really chugging along for this story. Also, I'd like to personally thank a wonderful reviewer of mine - Anime Nightwing39. They left an enormous review on my story and I dearly love the thing, and it asks a lot of questions. I have a few answers because its literately my favourite review ever so far.**

 **Siren's whole bloodthirsty-ness will definitely come back. Don't worry about that. I hope I addressed 'Team Rocket arbok fear' this chapter, I just felt it made more sense with a very imposing arbok than a tiny ekans, ya know. Ash will catch one of the pokemon you've mentioned. I won't say which one, but definitely one of them. I'm planning on definitely keeping him in the six-eight range, and if I go above you may promptly slap me. There. I've never thought about Gary and Ash traveling together, but the idea has a lot of merit. Maybe a bit later? After the SS Anne might be a good idea, but Ash will, for the most part, do this story alone.**

 **Also DEAR GOODNESS I love the questions. I will try my best to put them all in!**

 **So in response to Nightwing's amazingness, I have decided that in about a week or two, I will go back and edit all of my chapters, adding a ton of stuff and fixing the cringe of the first one. SHould be tons of fun, I get to add more foreshadowing, and there's a good excuse to read 150+ thousand words again.**

 **SS ANNE IS NEXT CHAPTER SHOULD LAST TWO MAYBE IDK YET**

 **I've got a few OCs nailed down but hey! Who knows? Maybe you could get in to! Submit (to me) your OCs! Yay!**

 **But anyway! Please read and review!**

 **Frost OUT!**


	9. SS Anne

Ash grimaced as someone else slammed an elbow into the small of his back. They muttered an apology but continued walking. He fought his way a couple more steps forward and felt his face break free of the crowd, staring over the water as he waited in line.

The SS Anne was a boat so large he doubted it was real. He had seen a few boats before, as Pallet Town got a lick of saltwater, but nothing of this size. It seemed like someone had taken Saffron City, the bubbling writhing mass of silver buildings and gleaming metal, and had tossed it into the water. Enormous and stretching from one end of the wooden deck to seemingly the horizon. He couldn't guess how long it was.

But he knew that the several thousand people it was able to hold were all gathering into their rooms, ready for the tournament and Cinnabar Island. Gripping his ticket tightly in his finger, he waited patiently in line until he reached a guard.

The man flashed him a keen look before accepting the ticket from his grip, staring it over with a steely eye. He flipped up a small tab and scanned the number underneath with a small machine. Only a couple seconds later, it beeped and he nodded, seemingly satisfied. "All right. You beat Surge, not bad, and that'll put you in the second class. The big ol' building in the middle has five floors - you're on the fourth, 2C49. If you have any questions, there are five crew members on every floor to assist you. Please enjoy your stay on the SS Anne."

Ash took back the ticket stub as a sort of memento, clambering onto the metal behemoth that in all actuality should not have floated with the size it was at. But that was no matter, he was just happy to be on it.

The sea breeze was thick and controlling, punching him in the nose and forcing him to only smell sheer salt and wind and algae and the water. Though overpowering, he adjusted quickly and took off his hat, letting the wind fool around with his hair for a second while he wiped sweat from his brow. The sun hadn't relented in several hours and the metal of the boat didn't make for cooler temperatures.

He padded along, heading toward the enormous building the sailor had talked about. Other people trotted alongside him, chattering happily. He didn't have anyone to talk to but that was fine with him, slipping into the air conditioned bottom floor and entering a gleaming elevator with four other people.

There were six buttons, 1C, 2C, 3C, 4C, and TC, which he guessed stood for Trainer Class. The bottom was locked and said Basement. He got a few strange looks from the well dressed people in the elevator when he pressed second class.

He definitely did notice the difference in their clothing. A suit, button downs, even a pencil skirt as compared to t-shirt and shorts well worn and covered in a few splotches of mud and embers. Vulpix hadn't held back in her training.

But as he managed to find his way to his room and dodged a simpering couple that looked like they had enough money to buy his first born child, the self-consciousness dripped off his shoulder. He might never be back in a room of this wealth and luxury and he was going to enjoy it.

There were two styles of room on every floor, barring trainer rooms. One for pokemon and one for not. Surge, quite obviously, handed out rooms that were made for pokemon. Ash grinned as he walked around.

Bigger than the largest room in his house, covered in gentle thick carpet that swallowed his feet. Two enormous beds on one side, a more human sized one tucked into the corner with curtains draping over every side. A sort of bean bag thing tucked in one side. An enormous fish tank with a protective removable seal on top to prevent spillage while traveling overseas stretched an entire wall and on the side opposite to her were three perches that looked like they could support a snorlax. A few more pieces of expensive furniture - a desk, several chairs, coffee table - were scattered around, and he was sure the bathroom was even more impressive. Only peeking in for a second showed that - the bathtub was as large as most hot tubs. Everything was super sized and expensive, though there was a certain simpering sweetness meant to brag about.

It was a bit annoying, but for now he just laid down on the nearest pokemon bed, feeling his back sink into the fluffy mattress. This was one part he would happily take on his journey with him.

The tournament, he guessed started tomorrow and someone would announce it tonight. While the room was brilliant, he had a fair amount of time to explore it. So he set down his bag, stripping from his dirty clothes and tossing them down a laundry shoot, and changed quickly. His pokeballs settled comfortably on his hips as he left the room.

* * *

He didn't have anyone to explore with, which was a rather prominent thought. While Gary would probably have been able to win the ticket and Leaf probably would punch Surge for it, he knew the boy was off visiting the breeder he had worked so hard to get to and he hadn't seen Leaf either time in Vermillion. A nice thought, but he didn't have his friends here. Well. All of them.

A hand resting protectively over his pokeballs, he started to push through the crowd to find his way to where the tournament would be. Catching the trail of a few trainers, he followed them to find himself in a sort of battle arena, similar to an enormously shrunken Indigo Conference one. Two fields, both plain dirt that was easiest to clean, though one was much bigger than the other.

There was a woman perched on a metal platform in between both fields, gripping a microphone. Rather pretty, long blonde hair and shining brown eyes. She pursed her lips, looking over the gathering crowd of trainers. Once she deemed it loud enough, she tapped her finger against the microphone.

The sound shut up all conversations and all of them stared up at her, ready. There was a grin on her face.

"Welcome, trainers!" She barked to the crowd, her voice like she had just swallowed a pound of honey. "You ready for the tournament?"

A cheer in response, one that only grew when she tossed her microphone into the air, where it began to float. It took him a second but he found the kadabra, spoon gleaming, perched on the opposite side of the closest field.

"My name is Eliza, and I'll be heading your tournament for this trip! Now, we've decided to make things a bit more fair, since our brilliant private breeder has offered us two rare pokemon to tickle your fancies. Two tournaments, split by badges."

Ash frowned. Three badges didn't put him above the line, which he was guessing was five badges. That was most likely for the better, as he didn't quite want to tackle a master on their way to their fourth Conference.

"Four and below for one, five and above for the other. Nothing too bad, but that's also so we can get a reasonable number. For some reason, more of you guys came once we announced a pokemon prize!"

Another cheer, which Eliza took the time to reach behind her and grab two pokeballs from a thin table. "Would you like to meet them?"

The sound was deafening. Ash kept quiet, slipping a few feet closer. Another member for his team would be nice, no matter what species. They had seemed very proud of these two pokemon, however.

"The prizes are as follows - fourth place gets one thousand dollars and three ultra balls, the newest Silph Co invention!" The kadabra floated a pokeball into the air, one that gleamed bright yellow and black. It seemed very sophisticated, like everything else on the boat, though he had heard rumors of its strength while catching pokemon.

"Third place! Two thousand dollars and another three ultra balls! Second place is three thousand dollars and five ultra balls." She got closer to the microphone, a grin on her face. "And first place wins you a whopping _ten thousand dollars_ and one of these pokemon!"

Another cheer, and Eliza threw the first pokeball, the one for the younger tournament.

The pokemon that appeared was pink, that was his first thought. A bright pink circle with pink stubby arms and pink legs tipped with silver claws. Two triangular ears tipped with dark brown and a curl of fur over its forehead. A clefairy.

He blinked and added his voice to the thunderous cheer spreading over the crowd. That was rare, more so than he had thought. Only native to Mount Moon, though they migrated elsewhere occasionally, the fairy type pokemon were extremely hard to find and many trainers spend months hunting them down for one reason - dragon attacks didn't hurt them. They were immune, though he didn't know the specifics. To be honest, he hadn't even expected to encounter one of the rare types.

The crowd roared as the clefairy chirped, raising one hand to wave. The two pokemon had obviously been briefed, if its brief show off with a flicker of fairy type energy was anything to go off by. After a second, Eliza recalled it. "A dragon finishing machine! Try to challenge Lance with that one! But for our older tournament, we've brought a competitor!"

A green little thing, covered in thick scales and paler underbelly. There was an emerald fin on the top of its head and a lighter shade covering a sort of collar around its neck, very small claws on its feet. Two tusks extended out of its mouth, crimson eyes flashing.

An axew? Seriously? Whoever this breeder was, Ash needed to talk to him. Those two types were extremely rare and could - and would - be powerhouses if raised right. While an axew would have been brilliant there was no way he'd turn down a clefairy.

"The ferocious dragon!" Eliza bellowed over the roar of the crowd, gesturing to the pokemon who was already rearing back and clawing at the air with Scratch. "Fully grown, it'll take down anything anyone puts in front of you! Who wants to win these pokemon!"

By the sound, Ash was rather guessing he'd have a fearsome crowd to face. He turned to stare over at Vermillion City even as the crowds left, Eliza announcing the younger tournament would take place tomorrow and would extend into the next day while the older trainers would take a considerable longer amount of time and would probably stretch into the entire trip.

After about twenty minutes, the SS Anne trembled under his feet, letting loose an annoyed rumble. A crew member sent out his pidgeot, which grabbed several enormous ropes tying the ship to the dock. It brought them back on deck, placing them into a neat pile. Someone kicked the engine into gear and the boat began to move, sliding over the waves as it made its way toward Cinnabar Island.

This tournament would push him, he knew that. Brock had been difficult and Misty had caused him a few problems. Surge had nearly broke them, but this tournament would be a trial of fire. If he got everything perfect, they'd come out on top. If he didn't, they'd be burnt all the way to Cinnabar Island.

He rather doubted Apep would let anything of the matter occur.

Grinning, Ash made his way back to his room. He had a few strategies to prepare.

* * *

The next day dawned bright and early, the light streaming through his shining windows. It had taken him an extra long while to fall asleep with the gentle rocking of the boat but he woke up bright and ready, pokemon scattered in various states of disarray around the room. Siren had smacked into the aquarium and hadn't left since, Vulpix rather surprisingly tried out the bean bag before deciding she didn't like it and heading back to Ash. Ro took the beanbag after she left. Ash slept on one of the pokemon beds, which were slightly tougher and more what he was used to. The large size meant Vulpix and Apep were able to fully stretch over his body without worrying about falling off, which was nice.

But today was the tournament, and he had an hour to prepare.

The food was heavenly. By sheer force of being second class, he had been ushered to a special cafeteria and given a tray filled with all of his wondrous desires. Meat, berries, potatoes, rice, bread, eggs, everything - he ate blissfully, rather annoyed he couldn't release his pokemon alongside him as well. Though it made sense. Releasing Apep in the room would kind of suck for other people who didn't necessarily want a fifteen foot long snake avidly watching them eat steak.

He finished slowly, savoring, before trotting up to the main floor, the deck. Gentle music teased its way out of crevices and the waves bounced off the tall steel water, occasionally tossing a spray to wet down people's hair. A few flying types wheeled overhead, most of them from the crew themselves. There were always warnings of gyarados in the waters and protection was very handy.

But the tournament sang so he trotted toward the fields again. Below the metal platform was a large sheet of plastic, one which names were written. The challengers. Fighting his way forward, he found he was facing someone named Jin Appel. Probably someone from out of Kanto, which made sense. The SS Anne traveled to most everywhere, and it could probably hitch a few out-of-state travelers.

He was the fourth match, and so settled back with his pokemon and watched the three matches before him. Nothing too bad, though there was someone with a beedrill that had fought pretty well. During the third match, he crept down and waited his turn.

The field seemed rather small as he walked onto his side, another kadabra having joined the first and raising psychic barriers. Smaller than Brock's field and Surge's, though for Misty her's had been a pool. Plain dirt with a few scattered rock piles.

Jin walked onto the other side of the field, bouncing a bit nervously. He didn't look any older than Ash himself, which was nice. Narrow glasses perched on his nose, tousled brown hair that had a permanent cow lick despite his attempts to swish it back. Traveler clothes but not those that had seen a lot of use - a more casual user, then. Well. He could fight that.

"Here we have Jin Appel from Rustboro City and Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town!" She made an exaggerated motion of flipping a coin, staring at the results. "Jin, you have been chosen to throw first!"

The boy frowned at the words and danced his finger along four pokeballs, finally plucking the second. With a flash, a mawile appeared, smacking its jaws together and giggling with a rusted, twanging sound.

Steel and fairy, though clefairy would only add to the kid's fairy types. It seemed well cared for, yellow skin bright and the black over its secondary mouth shimmering. Its teeth were sharp.

But he growled at the typing. Fairy was weak to poison but steel made it invulnerable, which really sucked. He had wanted to keep Apep and Ro more hidden until the last rounds and really had wanted to start with Siren, but she didn't have any advantages, which he didn't really want to risk in a one on one. Steel type, huh.

He grabbed his third pokeball and threw it onto the field.

Vulpix appeared with a snarl, slamming her three tails into the ground and barking out a challenge. Though she growled in annoyance at the heavy presence of sea mist, there was nothing in her that wasn't ready to battle. Jin blanched at the fire type but straightened again, pushing his glasses back angrily. Vulpix sat back at the sight of the steel type, emitting a chuffing noise. Laughter.

Ash grinned. The kid had trained well, but he hadn't prepared for Vulpix. No one could.

Eliza slashed her hand down. "Begin!"

Jin grappled for the first move. "0,0, ready for battle!"

Ash blinked, but Mawile reacted instantly, rushing forward with a kind of leaping, frolicking movement. It glanced around the battlefield, brownish eyes flicking over the sides of field and seeming to… calculate? The next second, it darted forward to stand directly in the middle of the field.

Vulpix barked, head tilted, though she still didn't worry. Shaking herself casually, a few embers flew off of her fur and crackled against the ground. Mawile hissed at the fire, tensing her claws.

"180 degrees, prepare for number 5, full psi!" Jin barked, hands in fists. There was a gleam in his eyes as he stared over the battlefield.

Ash had to figure this out. "Vulpix, circle it, don't get hit," he called softly, trusting her ears. She flicked one back in acknowledgment. "I'll figure out what its doing - if it attacks, Ember - and we'll see our strategy from there."

She looked a bit disappointed she wouldn't get to burn the field like in Surge's gym, but Ash had no plans to keep her upset for long. As soon as he figured out this kid's idea and how to fight it, she could go nuts.

Wait.

Psi - that was something he actually recognized. It was something used to measure bite strength, the League had developed it to selectively breed stronger pokemon. Number 5 could mean Bite, full psi meant full strength?

180 degrees became readily apparent as Mawile turned around until its back faced Vulpix, mouth opening into a savage grin. The kid was using a graph as a cipher to distract his opponents, and hell, it was working. That had taken far too long to figure out, even though he now knew the idea.

"Don't get too close," he warned, "It's going to use Bite."

Jin narrowed his eyes. "1,3! Strategy 3!"

Arceus, this was frustrating. By the time he roughly figured out that meant run forward, Mawile had already sprung at Vulpix with its strange, shuffling movement, baring glistening fangs. Vulpix kicked her four legs into gear and darted around the pokemon, running around to launch an attack from the other side, but Mawile leapt forward, landing Bite on Vulpix's shoulder with its regular mouth.

Ash blinked. While the move wasn't nearly as effective as if Mawile had gotten its enormous fangs into Vulpix, using its small fangs was ingenious. Most people only focused on the pokemon's larger weapon. He had to admit the kid was good, as annoying as his cipher was to face.

Vulpix hissed and shook herself, violently ripping Mawile off. The pokemon shrieked, sounding like grating metal, revealing burns lining the inside of its mouth and one blackened tooth. Jin blinked. "Your vulpix can't have Flame Body! That's impossible!"

Ash promptly ignored him. "Change it up a bit, Vul! Fire Whip!"

She stared the Mawile was dark eyes, her pride wounded from being attacked. The wound on her shoulder slowly cauterized as heat spread over her form, her tails frozen stiff as the air shimmered above them. This little… thing had managed to stumble forward and hurt her. She really had no idea what it was beside extremely irritating, and so decided to give it the respect it deserved.

Her Will-O-Wisps burn particularly bright, and Ash was well aware of how much they would hurt. Burns from those were never fun.

Tails glowing, she separated her three and used them all to each smack a single Will-O-Wisp, sending three burning streaks through the air.

Jin grinned. "Fractal!"

Ash barely bit back a groan. Another code name. He couldn't help but scowl as Mawile raised its hands and something flickered to life beyond its fingers, a sort of faded green disturbance in the air. Protect.

But not. It was visible as pieces shimmering out of place, like a broken mirror wrapped around the pokemon. Mawile also had no apparent strain and after putting its hands up to use the move, it let them drop again, able to keep the move up with only sheer mental force. Not that draining, which Protect always was.

The Will-O-Wisps thudded against the Fractal, instantly dimming and falling to the ground. Mawile squeaked and jumped back from the scattering embers, the shield still staying up.

"Ember. Test the shield."

Vulpix spat a ball of fire, one that Mawile's eyes widened at. The flames broke past the Fractal nearly instantly and slammed into the pokemon's face.

It shrieked with rage, golden face darkening with a burn. Under another hurried command from Jin, it sprang backward and a little to the right, presumably to 0, -1.

Fractal was just a weakened Protect, one that could stop status moves like Will-O-Wisp but not anything more powerful, like Ember. The kid had created Safeguard without having to buy the TM. Clever.

But Ash was onto Jin now, and while the kid was smart and had many useful tools on his side, he didn't have Vulpix. "Vulpix! Burn it!"

Vulpix howled, nose pointed toward the sky. The sun overhead, brilliant and unblocked by any cloud or shade, seemed to glow as she extended her power into the world around her. Fire spilled from underneath her ears as she reared back and slammed her front paws into the ground.

A shockwave born of fire burst from underneath her, creeping over the field. Mawile created another Fractal to block it but the heat began to get to it, causing the pokemon to shriek in pain.

Vulpix exploded toward Mawile, fire crackling over her fur. It wasn't Flame Charge - there wasn't enough speed or power, though he'd never mention that to Vulpix - but the strength of her pride was able to carry her straight through the Fractal and barreling into the stunned Mawile.

It caterwauled, raising its fists and slamming them into Vulpix's side. She used Mawile's chest as a springboard and leapt back, form blurred with Quick Attack. Jin apparently thought she were stopping her attack and fleeing, calling out, "Fairy Wind!"

Mawile didn't have very many ranged moves. That was a shame. Vulpix's Flamethrower was well capable of eating the burst of pink tinged air for breakfast and continuing to race toward Mawile.

Though, at Jin's shriek of "Number 7!", Mawile did manage to perform Iron Defense, crouching in on itself and letting steel energy crawl over its skin. The second before it finished, a wall of fire slammed into it.

Vulpix cocked her head, staring into the flames, but she didn't make another move to attack, at least not up close. She spat an Ember seemingly for good luck toward Mawile before pressing her shoulder into the flames, letting it heal over. Then she trotted back to Ash, yipping happily.

Mawile had been good and Jin rather smart, but it just didn't have enough fire power. If it had used more fearsome attacks to ground Vulpix instead of nipping and trying to protect itself, then the battle might have been changed. As the fire retreated, Ash only caught a glimpse of blackened fur before Jin recalled his pokemon, eyes a bit wide.

But after a second, he shook his head, a light smile on his face, and held up his pokeball. Eliza turned back toward him, caught sight of the recalled pokemon, and immediately started clapping. The onlookers did so as well.

"And Ash Ketchum's explosive vulpix brings him to a win! Congratulations to Ash!"

The clapping continued for a while, a few watchers whistling. Ash scratched the back of his neck, kneeling down and calling Vulpix over to him. He hadn't ever had people cheering for him after a battle and it was a bit of a worrying experience, almost frightening. Weeks of the routes hadn't prepared him for this many people's attention fixed on him.

Vulpix chuffed into his palm, spitting out a glob of fire on the battlefield to rid herself of some extra heat. He scratched behind her ears, grinning. "You did great, girl. I'm really proud of you. No one could have done better!"

Her expression clearly agreed with him, and he laughed as he recalled her. Escaping off of the battlefield, he walked toward the pokemon healing station. Though it wasn't a Pokecenter, the attendants there all had warm smiles and dozens of pokemon healing machines, which would have cost Silph Co thousands, if not a million. Those things were immensely expensive. They asked a few questions before slipping Vulpix into a quick healer after he told them he had another battle today. Though she might be a bit sore, she should she be able to fight if he called her out again.

The next level of battles weren't released yet, as the first matches were still going on. He walked back and sat in the seats, pulling his hat a bit lower to block the blistering sun. While Vulpix loved it and it had helped her in battle, the heat was edging over handable and settling into annoying. At least his room had strong air conditioning. Maybe he'd look into getting an ice type just to cool down.

The battles went well, the final one having someone with an espeon crushing a primeape, its trainer accepting the applause with a cool bow.

His battle was first, a bit surprisingly, versing someone named Giselle Overgreen. She immediately walked toward the opposite side of the field, which left him with the sun in his eyes. Sighing, he pulled his hat lowered over his head and trotted up to his place, four pokeballs on his waist. While he didn't want to release Apep, he would probably try to stick with Siren or Ro for this round. If he constantly fought with Vulpix without giving her much of a break, she would get tired, no matter the healers on board.

People cheered as he walked onto the field, hands resting on his pokeballs. He didn't quite know how this battle would go, even as he stared across the field at Giselle. She didn't seem to be the type to go backpacking across Kanto but confidence gleamed in her eyes. Strong, almost to the point of arrogant?

But it was pathetically easy to see that she hadn't traveled across Kanto. Her clothes were perfect and neat and while she could have just bought them for the show, her skin was a flawless white that seemed like only a few beams of sunlight had hit it. She flustered a bit in the heat, adjusting her long dress that looked like it more belonged in a wedding that a pokemon tournament. Her whole appearance gave the idea of a nose turned up, snobby. He was willing to bet she hadn't fought Surge to be on this boat.

She had actually placed a sort of badge on her chest, one proudly announcing she was first class. It was the kind of thing that she could say she used to remember her room number but no, it was to brag.

But whatever she was before, she was his opponent now. An opponent he was going to beat.

Eliza flicked another coin after announcing them, and he was throwing first. Annoying, because he hadn't seen Giselle fight before and had no idea of her pokemon.

Siren chittered happily, staring over the field onto the endless gleam of blue waves and crashing seafoam. It was her home, even though she'd been so close to shore when he had caught her. Something brightened in her dead eyes as sea spray cracked against the side of the boat and a drizzle of water splattered against the psychic barriers.

Giselle sniffed, raising her voice to be heard over the field. It was a bit shrill. "A water type? How pathetic. I'll show you a real one!" With a smirk, she tossed her pokeball.

A cloyster appeared on the field. Ash brightened at the sight - he had always loved ice types, and while there were few in Kanto that didn't mean they weren't powerful. Cloyster were water and ice types, which both gave them an advantage and a disadvantage against dragon types. It was a nice size, its shell hardened and its spikes shining. Peeking out from inside its shell, it gave a wicked grin with it peculiar face. Siren returned it, showing far too many shark teeth.

Ash flashed a grin over the field. "Thanks for the kind words!" Eliza slashed her hand down. "Siren, Absorb. Keep your energy up," he said, keeping his voice low. Siren didn't have incredible ears like Ro and Vulpix, but she was close enough to let him avoid Giselle hearing his plan.

She kept her moves slow, flapping her arms as if she needed them to stay afloat. Only Ash saw the thin gleam of green energy crackle toward Cloyster as she dipped toward the ground.

Siren brightened, chittering, as Cloyster winced, though not by much. Cloyster was a bit too large for Siren to pick up in her tentacles, although the weight wouldn't matter. A few slaps from her arms could poison it and Shock Waves and Night Shades could finish it off. Not bad. Giselle hadn't noticed the Absorb, which only made things easier.

"Cloyster, Ice Shard. Knock the unseemly creature out," Giselle said, flapping her hands.

Normally, Ash would have gotten upset at someone insulting his pokemon, but now it was all he could do to keep his laughter in. This was her trash talking skills? Forget traveling across Kanto, this kid had never left her fancy house before in her life.

Cloyster inhaled, blowing out a burst of freezing air. Water solidified into a dozen shards of ice, twitching in midair. Another movement and they fired at Siren, chilling the air around them.

Siren dropped, letting them thud harmlessly on the psychic barriers behind her. Ash's whisper of "Night Shade." went unnoticed by Giselle. He had to test this thing's defenses.

Her arms flickering with shadows, Siren bobbed higher into the air. Giselle frowned at her, mouth opening, when Siren giggled. High and shrill, the sound flashed over the battlefield. Ash had become desensitized to it but he couldn't deny the sheer creep factor behind the human-like sound of laughter.

Thankfully, Giselle was promptly distracted enough with shooting off a list of twenty billion commands he couldn't hear for Siren to launch two sickeningly black Night Shades at her opponent.

One slammed into its face, eliciting a shriek. It flashed with Withdraw, letting the second wash harmlessly over its shell. High defenses, but it hadn't been trained for endurance before. He wanted to know what happened when he cracked it with a super effective move.

Giselle's list of command came into play. Cloyster hesitantly peeked out once again, mouth gaping. A burning rainbow built in its mouth, flashes of every color under the sun in an effect that was almost hypnotic.

Cloyster launched the attack rather quickly while Siren was still lording over her hits and the ice type slammed into her side with a startling hiss. Two of her tentacles were gleaming with ice, though she smashed them off and leveled Cloyster with a furious glare. Ghost energy leaked over her arms.

Ash called to her. "Focus on me, girl! Highest point you can do, then Shock Waves, back to back. Don't let it escape."

Though it wasn't the up close and personal way she liked to fight, the idea of blasting the creature was appealing. Chittering, she raised one arm above her and began to float up, feeling for the psychic barriers. Around fifty feet off of the ground she found the top, settling a few feet below. The height strained her slightly but it was easily manageable with the constant energy from Absorb.

Electricity crackled over her arms, though it never dipped beneath her skin. She had worked too hard to let the move rebound on her.

Cloyster hissed at the sight of the yellow currents and shook itself violently. The spikes over its shell, rather long and fearsome, detached their outer layer, though Ash knew they would regrow quickly. A dozen and some change spikes floated with Spike Cannon before Cloyster fired them at Siren.

One problem of being pressed against the ceiling was that she couldn't dodge very well. Half of the spikes slammed into her chest, sending her screeching into pain. The electricity roared as it fired off her arm, only to splash harmlessly against a hastily erupted Protect.

Giselle laughed at his scowl. "You think I didn't load my precious pokemon up with TMs? Cloyster is more powerful than your weak, unevolved pokemon could ever hope to be-"

Two arching beams of crackling lightning fired off of Siren's arms, curved through the air to go _around_ the Protect, and slammed into Cloyster's head.

His hypothesis was correct. Giselle, for all her bluster, hadn't trained her Cloyster in enduring super effective hits or overall defense. It shrieked with pain, writhing as electrical currents raced over its body and shell, before collapsing to the ground. Its Protect shattered above its head.

Eliza grinned. "And the frillish wins the fight! Giselle, please release your next pokemon! Ash, do you wish to switch yours out?"

He made eye contact with Siren, ignoring the twinge, and copied her head shake. "No thank you."

Giselle frowned, pursed her lips, and sent out her next pokemon. He blinked.

A graveler, not that exotic. But what was strange was that it wasn't the regular stone that made up most rock stones, excluding the few made of dirt or clay. Instead, it was a reddish color, its stones mostly grey but with scarlet tips, a sunset stretching its last rays over rock, though there wasn't enough red to be striking.

He had read about this. By feeding two geodude only a certain type of rock for their entire lives, they would produce a baby with a slight change in stone, like this one, who seemed partially granite. It took dozens of years to get right and had absolutely no effect whatsoever on the pokemon except for looks. Maybe in contests that would be an interesting thing to see, but on a battlefield, it was just colors. Colors that he was going to slam into the ground.

And it wouldn't even be difficult. Both rock and ground types had a disadvantage to water moves, and her fancy-smancy graveler was no different. Why in the world had she sent out such a disadvantaged pokemon?

His answer came as Giselle sniffed and flapped her hand again. "Yes, I only take the highest quality pokemon for my team. Graveler, Hidden Power. Wrap this up, won't you?"

Her pokemon grunted and pounded two fists together, shooting Ash into a short flashback of fighting Brock in his gym. While that had been a two on one, he still remembered some of its weak spots. Legs, back of head, directly in the face. Hidden Power was a tricky move - depending on the pokemon, it could be any sort of type. Judging by Giselle's smirk, it was probably something strong against Siren.

Graveler bellowed again, bringing its hands around to its front. Cradling them together, it spat something glowing in between its palms. After a second, it released a writhing mass of green energy toward Siren.

She tilted her head, chittering, and pushed her arms in front. A ball of water appeared, pulled from her very own cells, and she blew into it, embedding fearsome water energy into it. Eventually she could immediately place in the energy inside, but for now, Water Pulse was just what she needed. Firing it forward, it met the grass Hidden Power head on and exploded.

"Water Sport," he called softly, timing it so he gave the command just as Giselle demanded another Hidden Power, covering his voice.

Siren hissed smugly, shaking herself. Globs of water escaped from her skin, amassing around her in a shield of water. She raised her arms and flung them over the field, pushing the water with her tentacles.

Since she was so high, it almost seemed like it was raining. Droplets smacked against the dirt, changing the hard packed surface into something muddier and thicker. Graveler roared with fury as water trickled over its reddish stones, slipping through to press against its core. Ash grinned.

Giselle's pokemon weren't bad, that was true. She was cocky but her pokemon listened to her commands. But she made amateur mistakes, relying on one effective move to knock Siren out and not thinking about the fact that Ash still had another pokemon. It would have been better to knock out Siren with an effective pokemon or several effective moves before focusing on his next pokemon.

"Bubble Beam," he said. While Water Gun would have been nice with its direct beam of water, she couldn't learn that and bubbles exploded on impact.

She giggled as she opened her mouth, firing out shotgun blasts of bubbles that darted toward Graveler, who tucked its arms in and rolled away. But Siren merely swept her head from side to side and kept launching Bubble Beams. They connected in an explosion of water as Graveler roared.

Siren stopped to take breath and Giselle lunged for the opportunity. "Graveler, Magnitude!"

Ash blinked, but the pokemon did as commanded. It placed its hands on the ground before jumping into the air, bellowing. The sheer weight behind the move sent a terrific tremor over the ground, shaking rocks from their piles and making a quaver Ash could feel from his position.

Siren, still floating high in the air, chittered in confusion.

"That's not fair!" Giselle shrieked over the field. "Your pokemon can't have the ability Levitate, therefore it's not immune to my ground attacks. It should have been hit by that Magnitude!"

Ash couldn't even understand where she was coming from and shrugged. "Tell that to general logic. If she's not on the ground, she's not going to be hit."

Giselle growled, thinking hard. Ash took the advantage. "Siren, close range Bubble Beam. Make it count."

She giggled again, bloodlust shining in her eyes, but he was confident in his ability to control her. Though she was still a ghost type, he knew she respected him and would follow his instructions, even though he couldn't take her hunger away from her. Avoiding any ghost moves during her second battle was another method to keep her attitude to a minimum.

Drawing from the water around her, she hissed and opened her mouth. More bubbles appeared, these ones larger and full of the explosive energy that hurt the most. Giselle's eyes widened, and she shrieked out one final command- "Self-Destruct!"

Ash cursed just as Graveler closed its eyes and began to glow. Siren backpedaled but couldn't escape as a brilliant explosion of light snapped out from the rock pokemon and expanded outward. A touch of heat brushed against the psychic barriers in front of him, almost uncomfortable.

It didn't take a genius to realize that both of their pokemon were knocked out. He recalled Siren quickly, whispering congratulations to her through the pokeball. He could have sworn it shook slightly as he clipped it to his belt.

Giselle stared over the field, fists clenched. Without a word, she recalled her pokemon and stalked off the field. He watched her go with slight amusement - what had she expected, the Self-Destruct would not only knock out Siren but his next pokemon as well?

Eliza raised her hand. "And another stunning win with Ash! Let's see how he does in the next match!"

He grinned and not quite scampered from the field. He still didn't like the attention.

That night, he dropped off most of his supplies in his room before heading back onto the deck. It was only an hour or so before midnight and most everyone was asleep, regaining their energy. He just stood there, hands braced against the rail, looking over the seemingly endless expanse of tumbling blue waters.

The waves were almost black, watching the violet sky above. They crashed randomly, white tips slamming against the metal hull of the ship with enough strength to get his chin wet, but even the sheer power of the sea couldn't fight against the SS Anne while in its current form. A storm, maybe they'd have more problems, but the boat had been designed for rough seas and water behemoths lying beneath the surface.

He didn't have anyone to talk to, but he was here for introspection instead of conversation.

Watching the dark ceiling of the sky above him, he searched for both constellations and his thoughts. Tomorrow there would be another two on two and after that, the finales. He was confident in his skill level but there had been some intensely powerful trainers that he had seen. One had creamed the competition in both his first and second match with a slim primeape, using lightning fast punches and never seeming to stay in one spot for longer than a second. Another slammed with pure power, using an electabuzz with seemingly endless amounts of sheer electricity. No matter which one he fought, he knew he had at least several ideas to bring it down.

Ro hadn't seen any use yet so far in the tournament, and the nidorino was getting pent up with frustration. He wasn't a very battle hungry pokemon, actually Ash's least battle-ready pokemon, despite his strength and size. Being kingsize had probably made him the leader of his herd in the wild and he hadn't needed to battle anyone in order to stay in control, which he had happily accepted. But he needed to still do something, use his energy and strength, instead of just being in Ash's pokeball or room all day. Despite being a laid back pokemon, Ro got twitchy and pent up rather quickly. Ash feared for a day where he might have to leave his nidorino alone for longer than three days. There might be disasters ready to happen.

He still didn't know where to go with him. When the nidorino had joined so long ago, Ash had convinced him with potions and the promise to keep him safe. The pokemon accepted battling well enough and definitely seemed to enjoy it, but he didn't know what Ro wanted anymore. With the strength he was at, few pokemon could challenge him in the wild. Though Ash guessed he enjoyed the lack of fighting for his life out in the wild, it still didn't make full sense to him. Another wave crashed against the hull, echoing with a distant whine of some hunting beast.

But there wasn't a way he knew how to ask the poison type without making it seem like he wanted to get rid of the pokemon, which was never something he wanted to have happened until Ro wanted it. He thought Ro was happy, he always had a happy chuff and a brush against his legs when he came out of the pokeball. And battling seemed to be fun for him, even when he lost. While he did like physical moves, he appreciated ranged moves much more, though getting hurt didn't bother him that much.

He'd find a way to ask him, but not tonight. A buzz interrupted his thoughts.

The deck intercoms came on, buzzing softly with static, their regular volume lowered greatly to keep the sleeping passengers comfortable. "For those on the deck, we have a clear night tonight. So if you take a long look to your left, you'll be able to see the southern curve of Kanto, only a hundred miles away from Fuschia City!"

He narrowed his eyes, extending his gaze over the writhing curls of the ocean. And indeed, far off in the distance, a black mound huddled against the horizon, perched neatly in the darkness of the waves. Fuschia was his destination after he beat Erika, though he might explore a bit after that. If he beat Blaine on Cinnabar and then the grass type gym leader, he'd have five badges. The limit that kept him from a lot of places would break and let him explore more dangerous approaches to training.

A grin on his face, he watched the land of Kanto fade in the distance until it flickered and was gone. He drew out a pokeball and tossed it next to him, letting scarlet light spill over his legs.

Siren chittered as she was released, tensing as if ready for battle, but she quickly relaxed once she saw Ash standing next to him. Her arms flicked out and tapped his shoulder, tentacles pushing against the air to raise her high enough to stare into his eyes. He smiled and tapped her back.

"Hey, Siren. I wanted to let you relax a little." She chittered a bit confusedly, tilting her head.

He gestured to the ocean and watched her eyes go wide.

She made a sort of singing sound, flying higher into the air to stare over the edge of the protective railing. A wave splashed against the hull and she sighed happily as a drizzle of water and mist slip onto her body, smoothing down her skin.

"You can go explore for a little, but make sure to come back and avoid any battles with wild pokemon, okay? I don't want you to be hurt before a battle tomorrow, okay? Although I know you'd win."

She chittered back at him, pleased, before looking back at the world of water stretching before her. With one final look at him and receiving a nod, she plunged into the waves and almost instantly disappeared from sight.

Two glowing red eyes and the faintest flash of pink was the only sign he got as he watched Siren leap and splash above the waves, calling out with reckless abandon. Another trainer peered over the railing and nearly pulled out his pokeballs before Ash told him that she was his. A few awkward moments before they both went their separate ways and Ash went back to watching his water type swim through the water she was made of. A smile flashed across his face.

Tomorrow was the big day. He wasn't going to let it slip by him.

* * *

Eliza stretched in front of the crowd, letting them cheer as she held the coin in her hand. Ash stared across the field at his contestant.

Ceana Kilkor looked nothing like Giselle. Her clothes were trainer clothes, worn and ripped and used. Her hair dripped off her skull as a pale waterfall, tied back tight in a ponytail. Dark eyes gleamed across the battlefield as she stood there, six pokeballs over her waist. Her features were bony, sharp. Cheekbones high enough to grapple for room with her eyes and a narrow chin, thin mouth. There was something rough about her, tense. An alley poochyena, fighting for food and water and life. Battle ready, almost hungry.

And then there was the misshapen black mass hovering over her shoulder.

He had no idea what had made the five unown attach themselves together but there they were, black lines and circles mismatched together with five glaring eyes perched in the middle. It bobbed slightly in the air, psychic energy trickling away from its body.

Not much was known about the unown. They came from seemingly nowhere, clumped in small groups as they hovered in the air, mainly found in ruins with high psychic potential. Johto wasn't completely full of them, but it had the highest collection. Strange things were said to happen when many unown gathered together, reality distorting and strange visions appearing. There was only one move they could ever learn, Hidden Power, but that could be any type for each unown.

Flipping the coin, Eliza looked at the result and sucked in a breath, shaking her head. "Ah, tough luck, Ash. You release your pokemon first yet again! Remember, this is a two on two."

Ash scowled. He had very much wanted Ceana to release her pokemon first so he could use Vulpix in the battle, saving his two poison types until the final battle so their power could come as a surprise. But if he released Vulpix now, there was always the chance Ceana had a water type she could use, and then he'd have to recall one of his pokemon.

But judging by the psychic type over her shoulder, this might be a curious battle. Tossing his pokeballs onto the field, he watched his pokemon appear.

Ro rumbled. He had been briefed shortly that morning, though he snorted at the psychic barriers that flared golden in trying to contain him. Siren chittered to Ash, floating over to him through the psychic barriers. They grew dim as she grew near, but the psychics were too powerful for a ghost type to fully disrupt them. That would be devastating to the ship if the barriers failed during a particularly devastating battle.

He let her tap his shoulder, reaching up to gently set his hand next to her collared ruff. She chittered happily, but he frowned at the remains of a bruise spreading over her chest. Graveler's Self-Destruct had been terrible and he wouldn't be able to use her in the finale, no matter type advantages. She would just be too injured.

Ceana smiled. "No vulpix, then?" She said softly, her voice gentle yet carrying over the field. He nodded tersely back.

She readied a pokeball, the first one on her waist. Ceana turned her attention to the unown behind her, smiling softly. She gestured to the field, but Eliza raised her hand and her voice.

"Ceana, please remember that your appeal was rejected. Only League registered hive minds can be labeled as single pokemon, such as magneton, and your 'prime unown' unfortunately counts as five pokemon. Please only select one of them for this battle," she said, shrugging her shoulders in a 'what-can-I-do' motion.

Ceana's smile dropped from her face and a frosty scowl replaced it. She stared back over the field, eyeing the growling nidorino and chittering ghost type. Her eyes flicked back toward her prime unown, which floated closer to be directly by her side.

She shook her head at one, shifting her finger to point to another. Ash blinked, trying to figure out what she was doing, when it suddenly clicked. Unown only had one move, Hidden Power, he already knew that. But every pokemon had a different type they used, and she had five pokemon in front of her. She was probably finding the one with the most effective type to use against his pokemon.

In the end, she managed to pick one unown, though she looked like she had been thinking between two different ones. It detached itself from the rest of its group with a visible sag in its motions, wanting to be back with its group. But the next second it zipped onto the field, humming softly.

Ceana's next pokemon was less exotic but more worrying.

An espeon, pink fur neatly smoothed back, appeared onto the battlefield, stretching languishing and curling its forked tail over its head. A red gem gleamed between its enormous ears, two pink tufts of fur branching out from next to its ears. Wide, inverted eyes stared across the field, white pupils and purple sclera. He tensed.

Siren was made to take out psychic types, but two on the battlefield was a bit too much. Unfortunately, Ro was made to be taken out by psychic types. Their natural mental flow disrupted his poison glands as they dug into his mind, causing him immense pain while breaking up the poison he would attack them with, keeping their concentration at a high and their pain low. This would be a difficult battle.

Eliza chirped a few words into the mic, hyping the crowd, before slashing her hand down. "Begin!"

"Focus Energy!" Ash barked, not bothering to try and lower his voice. Ro would hear him anyway and Ceana didn't know Ro was brilliant at breaking off movies before they finished and launching counterattacks if she tried to attack him while he was concentrating. "Night Shade, Siren. Keep 'em coming. Aim for Espeon."

Ceana tilted her head to the side. "Ialach, please take in some sun. Unown, full strength."

Ash cursed silently. Espeon's identification - the sun pokemon - wasn't just a dig at the time of day when they evolved. No, they drew energy and power from the sun, strengthening their psychic abilities. Already, its gem flashed, glowing with a light somewhere deep within as the pokemon stayed close to its trainer, head tilted up.

Siren reacted. Hissing, she threw a lance of shadowy energy to careen through the air. Espeon's fur ruffled and it leapt to the side. Right. Precognition. Espeon, he decided, were extremely irritating to fight.

But the shockwave from the Night Shade exploding on the ground was enough to jolt Espeon out of its sunbathing. Purple eyes snapping open, it glared openly at Siren before throwing itself at Ro.

The nidorino took a step backward as Espeon flickered from view with Quick Attack, charging across the battlefield. It didn't seem to have fully reached its potential with the move - he could still clearly see the blaze of pink fur - but weak or not it was still far too fast for Ro to have any hope of catching it. The psychic type continued sprinting until it ended up pressed near one of the sides, teeth bared in a snarl.

But in all the time he'd been focusing on Espeon, he had forgotten about Unown.

It charged through the air, not moving terribly fast. But shadows, grey and writhing, flickered over its entire body, covering the black markings that made up its body and disguising its eye. With a hum, it gathered the energy and launched the ghost type Hidden Power at Siren's side.

She hissed with startled rage, the move firing her back several feet. The ghostly energy trickled over her form, her eyes widening with a flicker of something in their dead sockets. It had hurt and the influx of ghost energy didn't help her anger. Ash had to finish Unown before it pissed Siren off.

Ceana tsked, a wicked smile on her sharp features. "Future Sight, please. Unown, continue what you're doing."

Ash thanked every deity he knew that she wasn't a psychic. That would make things much more infuriating, and he wouldn't have any way of guessing her attacks if she said them all telepathically.

Espeon actually roared, the sound slightly too high to be frightening. A cloud of pure psychic energy floated off of every fur on its body, condensing into a burst of cyan energy trickling into the air. It seemed to gain a mind of its own, flying up into the air to watch over the battle as if a vengeful ghost.

Ro finished Focus Energy but he didn't take the time to tell the currently distracted Siren about Espeon's weak points. Rumbling angrily, he opened his mouth and spat dozens of Poison Stings through the air. Espeon hissed furiously but flickered back into Quick Attack, dodging all of them, though one got infuriatingly close.

Unown flashed again with ghostly energy, its eye squeezed tight as if trying to ignore the fact it was harnessing dead energy as a psychic type. Siren hissed in fury as it managed to evade her once again. To those two, it was probably a high action chase scene, but they were both rather slow. To onlookers, it looked a bit like they were jogging after each other, snarling and humming. Another beam of ghostly energy slammed into Siren's chest and she shrieked, promises of violence in her voice.

Ro let his horn crackle with electricity at Ash's whispered command, firing Shock Wave. Espeon's eyes widened and it created a thin Protect over its back, letting the move wash off harmlessly. Ceana smiled once again.

But even as Espeon dropped the shield and straightened once again, a dozen Poison Stings slammed into its side. It shrieked painfully as a burst of psychic energy exploded from its gem, careening toward his pokemon.

Siren hissed as she winced, fury crawling over her features. Ash gaped as he realized she had just been poisoned, but she wouldn't have poisoned herself with her arms and Ro was nowhere near her. Ceana's frosty smile answered it for him.

Even as Espeon shuddered as poison wracked shivers over its body, there was a smugness he could feel pressing from across the battlefield. Synchronize used the pokemon's mental abilities to force telepathic pains onto its opponent as it felt pain. It couldn't transfer the sheer force of attacks, but being poisoned or paralyzed was easy enough. Ro avoided it, the poison tinged pain washing harmlessly over his body, but Siren got the brunt. As a ghost type, her natural energy diverted some of the energy, but the pain was still obvious in her features. Which was definitely not good.

Ceana was a brilliant trainer, but she hadn't fought many ghost types before. Unknown pain from a type they could normally rip to shreds was not something they took lightly, and ghostly energy from Unown over the field wasn't helping either. Fury bubbled over her features. There was an actual cloud of ghostly energy that hissed from her mouth as she bared her shark teeth.

But the other trainer still didn't seem concerned for her pokemon. "Unown, finish it quickly. Swift and Confusion, please."

Espeon flared with energy, flicking its forked tail over its head. Several golden beams of energy exploded from each tip, shaped like shooting rays as they locked heat signatures with Ro.

The nidorino knew better than to try and dodge the homing moves and instead snapped out a Shock Wave in retaliation. It wasn't as strong as it could have been but the weak electricity was plenty to stop the golden rays.

Ash had forgotten about the second part of the command until now. "Ro, Ice Beam! Don't let up!" He shouted.

But even as his friend charged flickering silver in his throat, Espeon's gem gleamed a brilliant cyan. Ro began to glow the same color, his face contorting into pain as he writhed over the ground, bellowing angrily as he tried to fight the psychic energy. Ice Beam burst in his throat, freezing his jaw, though he still fought.

It didn't work. He was raised into the air, still struggling, as Espeon narrowed its eyes and twitched its head up. Gem flashing, Ro seemed to burn with psychic energy.

Things got worse. The bubbling cloud of psychic energy Espeon had launched with Future Sight suddenly came to life, curving into a solid beam of energy and firing down on the battlefield. Ro was the first opponent it could reach and it did so with gleeful abandon.

Ash's shout mixed with Ro's furious bellows. Future Sight was a terrible move to fight, as it watched pokemon's minds to sense their awareness and distraction levels. It waited, as a predator, until the pokemon was at their weakest point before striking, using its full force and psychic power. The only way to block it was by countering, something the nidorino locked in Confusion did not have access to.

Ceana's grin was ice. "Slam it."

Ro was lifted several more feet, struggling weaker since the incredibly effective move disrupted his poison glands, before Espeon launched him at the ground with enough force to shatter the dirt and imbed Ro at least half a foot into the ground. He grunted softly, barely forcing his eyes open.

Ceana tsked again, eyebrow raised. "Not bad. Swift-"

Three burning rays of ghostly energy slammed into Espeon.

It caterwauled, thrown back into the psychic barriers. Its pink fur stood up at all angles, several chunks actually burned from the viciousness of the Night Shades. It struggled to rise before it winced again, the poison coursing stronger from the adrenaline. Another second and it slumped to the ground.

Ceana's eyes flew wide and she fumbled for her pokeball, almost as if she didn't expect to have to recall her pokemon. Siren lunged forward, shark teeth gleaming, ready to attack even though Espeon was knocked out. After several seconds, Espeon disappeared in a burst of scarlet light. Siren shrieked.

Ash blinked as he realized that the third Night Shade had been fired from Siren's mouth instead of her arms, a puff of shadows escaping from between her shark teeth as she glared over the field. She had lunged for Espeon like it was her prey. "Focus, girl," he said warningly, but she didn't appear to hear him.

This was not good. Bruises and ghostly burns littered her arms and chest, one dark spot on the side of her head. Unown still darted forward once again, charging more energy. It fired yet another beam, the total number countless, when Siren spat another Night Shade from her mouth. The two collided.

But Siren's was fueled by pain and rage, and it easily overpowered the Hidden Power and slammed into Unown's side. It thrummed in pain, shooting backward, one of its black lines twisted the wrong way. After a second, it popped back into place, though the movement pained the little creature.

Siren was done with playing games. A need for blood glinted in her eyes and she shrieked across the field, slamming Unown with one arm and launching it toward the ground. She followed it immediately, catching it only a few feet above the ground. Shark teeth slammed into its frail body.

The blood drained from Ash's face. "Siren, leave it!" He bellowed across the field, hands cupped around his mouth.

For a single, breathless second, she turned to him, pokemon still gripped in her jaws, acknowledgment in her eyes. Then she bit down harder, a wordless shriek of pain escaping from Unown.

Ash screamed for Ro. The nidorino could barely move, half frozen into the ground, but he understood and launched a weakened Shock Wave toward Siren.

It slammed into her side, frying her nervous system and unlocking her clenched jaws. She dropped Unown but the damage was down - its Levitate ability meant nothing as it slammed into the ground.

Ceana finished struggling and finally pulled the proper pokeball from her waist. She didn't seem to remember which one belonged to which unown - two others from her prime unown had been recalled before she finally found the one that belonged to the one on the battlefield. Her face was pale as she recalled her battler and immediately darted from the field, the remaining two unown disappearing in a flash of light.

Ash recalled Siren just as quickly. She had never reacted so badly. There were no words of encouragement as he clipped it to his belt, eyes wide. Ro was pulled off the field, leaving a wide dent in the ground.

Eliza looked slightly shaken. "Ash pulls through yet again with another victory! Let's welcome him to the finals!"

The applause wasn't thunderous this time. It was almost cautious. Ash turned and fled from the battlefield.

* * *

Ash stared at the pokeball in his grasp, tucked into a corner only a slight distance from the battlefield.

He had known she was a ghost type, that her rumored dead spirit would never be satisfied with mortal energies and food. Though she could control herself, the heat of battle unlocked inhibitions she needed to keep. Bloodlust, the hunger to consume spirits. The want for death.

But she had gotten better, had gotten much better from the first night where she had actively attacked both him and his team. The one accident where she had tried to hunt a rattata while traveling had been quickly fixed and she hadn't attempted something that again, eating the food he provided and nothing else. No one else.

And yet Unown wouldn't have survived in her jaws for much longer unless Ro had managed to shock her into submission. And not even submission - just paralysis in order to drop the psychic pokemon.

There was no chance he'd use her in the finals. Because of her injured chest, yes, but more so the fact he didn't know whether he trusted her on the battlefield yet until he learned to contain her. A brilliant help she was, that was true, but he wouldn't stand on the edge of his platform, pokeball in hand, waiting for the moment when she started to take things too far to recall her.

He would give himself a few days in Cinnabar where he'd just look for new pokemon, and only when he was off the SS Anne and back in Vermillion would he let Siren out and figure out what the hell was her problem.

And if he needed to, he would send her to Professor Oak until she curbed the bloodlust.

Was he being too harsh? It had been one mistake. One mistake that had nearly ended a pokemon's life. Siren had been vicious and she had known what she was doing because they had made eye contact. She had noticed him telling her to stop, to leave it, and had looked him in the eyes before biting down again.

He set the pokeball back on his belt and stood up, brushing off his shoulders. There was a distinct wail from the crowd as someone's pokemon was probably hit in the battle going on overhead. Whoever would win the battle going on right now would be his opponent in a battle to win a pokemon. Setting his course for the healing station, he bit his lip. He, being part of the finals, would be able to get his pokemon healed fast in order to have them all ready, but Ro would probably still feel the Confusion and Future Sight pretty heavily.

The attendants by the healing machines welcomed him, saying greetings. It was the same person from yesterday, warm smiles and quick-do attitude. She took his pokeballs and popped them into machines, the slots immediately emitting a piercingly bright light. After only five minutes, they were healed, though Siren might still be sore. He thanked her before jogging back to the battlefield.

He had a final to win.

* * *

The young kid with the mankey, bowl cut, and a terrified expression tried to command his pokemon one more time, but the fighting type was exhausted. The other kid with the electabuzz just stared up at the fearow circling overhead, nodding his head.

The bird struck and the battle was over. Eliza welcomed the kid, Paul, into the finals, then announced a thirty minutes break before the final battle would begin.

Though there were many people there, it was only a fraction of who was actually there on the enormous SS Anne. Though some of them had powerful pokemon and brilliant strategies, they were still the less experienced trainers. The divide of five badges wasn't that good of a judge but it at least helped divide casual trainer from at least competent amateur, though he had seen a seventeen year old tossing a pokeball up and down in the crowd for the tournament. His tournament was the warm up round. After he finished winning the clefairy, the real games would begin.

He was dead set on the fairy type. Though he hadn't planned for a clefairy, hadn't thought he'd ever see one, he had spent a couple of sleepless hours researching its moves. Most, if not all, could stop a dragon in its tracks.

Ash tapped Apep's pokeball. With his luck, he'd have to throw first again, in which case he'd start with his starter for the first time. The shock factor would be enough to knock the Paul kid back to where he came from and Apep was well prepared to counter any type the kid had on him.

Thirty minutes passed quickly, and he clambered back up to the battlefield. More people were here now, but it was still nothing compared to the few tournaments he'd seen on television. His heart still fluttered at the thunderous chattering and applause as he stepped onto his platform.

Eliza was already perched over the crowd, microphone floating in front of her mouth like she was about to break into song. She tapped it once and the kadabra levitating it moved it back a bit sheepishly, giving her room to breathe.

Sucking in a deep breath, she lunged into announcements. "Hell _-o_ , SS Anne! Are you ready for the first finale of this trip?" Deafening noise, which she apparently took as a yes. "Well then! We have two promising trainers ready to battle for us today! Paul from Veilstone City and Ash from our own Pallet Town!"

Eliza slammed her feet into the ground, starting a heavy beat that swept over the crowd as people pounded limbs in order to keep the wardrum sound continuing. Ash could feel it reverberate through his chest.

To his immense dislike, Paul just stretched and tapped along the six pokeballs on his waist. Ash had cheated - just a little - and had placed two empty pokeballs next to his teams' in order to make it seem like he had more options. Who knows, maybe Paul would slip up and let him snag an easy victory. Somehow he didn't think so.

With the beat of the crowd, Eliza tossed the coin and dramatically pointed toward Paul. The crowd erupted.

Paul wasted no time in tossing out his first pokeball. Ash grimaced as electricity immediately crackled over the field as soon as the scarlet let finished forming, brilliant and shocking.

His electabuzz. It seemed to be his main, though Ash and noticed a few problems - not a lot of speed, only finishing moves, and stood stock still until an order was given.

A grin split his face. He knew the perfect way to counter that.

Vulpix popped out of her pokeball a few feet above the ground, slamming into the dirt with enough force to send a small tremor over its surface. Fire swelled from her paws, claws unsheathed, and her bellow crossed continents. People cheered for her, which she preened and accepted proudly. Prideful little bugger. He couldn't keep the grin off of his face.

Electabuzz was probably the safest best for a pokemon that didn't have any water moves, though he didn't know the others. It was his best bet to throw Vulpix out first and then see how things went.

Paul's face didn't change. Electabuzz whirred, swinging its arms by its side, though it didn't move its feet.

Eliza grinned. "And now here are our two hopefuls for this tournament! The explosive vulpix and the powerful electabuzz - but which will be strong enough to take home our first place prize?"

Vulpix snorted and spat out an Ember. It hissed over the ground.

She slashed her hand down. "Begin!"

Ash hadn't seen anything but the end of Paul's battles before. He'd let the boy take the first move to get a feel for his abilities - he trusted Vulpix to be able to get away if anything happened.

"Shock Wave and Swift. Don't let it get close. Move away if it gets near," Paul said softly, but the battle hadn't started yet and there was no noise to cover up his voice. Ash frowned at the directions. Vulpix wouldn't be able to move very much under Protect but he didn't want her being hit.

"Protect. Fire Whip," he said, showing off just a little with his minimalistic instructions. Vulpix flicked ear back as Electabuzz finally started to move.

Its arms flashed, though he wasn't able to see exactly where the energy came from. Pichu and the line had the obvious cheek pacs that could make it slightly easier to get a lesser shock from the ability Static by avoiding those areas. Stretching its rather human-like hands into the air, it launched off the two attacks at once, one from each hand.

Ash grinned. An advanced technique, one that would take more time to use. Vulpix had her Protect up the instant the energy left Electabuzz's fingers, pacing underneath its green curve.

The last ray of Swift slammed into the shield and Vulpix immediately dropped it, fire spilling from her mouth. Electabuzz tensed, ready to move, but it didn't even attempt to dodge as Vulpix spat several Will-O-Wisps into the air.

"Dodge," Paul finally said, just as Vulpix hit her first one with Tail Whip. The fireballs darted through the air Electabuzz dodged all of them with impressive acrobatics, though one exploded near its foot.

"Fire Spin," Ash called. Vulpix could maintain the technique for a while and could drop it easily if Electabuzz launched another homing attack at her, and Paul didn't seem the type to act rashly, giving him plenty of time to react.

There was a pleased tone in her voice as she barked, blitzing off into Quick Attack as fire leapt to her call. Trickling off her fur, it thumped against the ground and began to burn. She was running circles around Electabuzz - literately. Within seconds, a tornado of flames surrounded the electric type, who merely blinked and waited for instructions. A stray tongue of fire brushed its leg and it hissed, pulling back into its very limited range of accessibility.

Ash grinned. Burns made it annoying as hell to move, and electabuzz already weren't the fastest. He waited for another one of Paul's sharp commands. Nothing came.

Vulpix reared from the flames, grey eyes turned scarlet. A Flamethrower exploded from her mouth, crackling as it exploded over Electabuzz's fur. The pokemon winced but didn't show anything else - it had been heavily trained in defense, even though the Flamethrower wasn't one of Vulpix's strongest.

Paul gave a command. His pokemon tensed, steadying itself as it raised its arms and closed its eyes as electricity raced over its body, fur rubbing together as it shifted into standing up straight. Two strong yellow lines of energy concentrated near its hands, which it held out in front of itself. Charge Beam wasn't a move he had faced before, but he guessed it was similar to a Thunderbolt.

Electabuzz fired the move. It blazed a brilliance of golden as it shot through the flames, slamming into the psychic barriers. But then the pokemon just began to turn slowly, pouring more and more energy into the move as it moved in a circle.

Only half a second later and Vulpix barked in pain, stumbling to the point that Ash could see her. Her Fire Spin began to die as both the energy cut through it and she lost concentration, but the second she recovered the flames burst back to life. The glare she leveled at Electabuzz could have melted stone. Ash wasn't going to give her any more commands. She could handle this now.

Paul's snap was like a gunshot over the battlefield.

Electabuzz exploded into action again, fur still blackened and a snarl over its face. Electricity crackled over its arms, far weaker after the immense power the Charge Beam had taken, and it launched three quick bursts of lightning. Vulpix dodged the first two and was hit cleanly by the third.

She didn't get thrown back, just frozen where she was standing. Ash cursed. Thunder Wave, a paralyzing move. For the next couple of minutes, she'd only be able to move in twitches and spasms until the electricity fully left her system. Unless she had a counter. Which she did.

As Electabuzz fought for a path out of the dancing flames, she narrowed her eyes and relaxed her three tails. They drifted toward the floor, a glow building on their surface. A current raced over them and she winced, but Iron Tail finally sank in and she slammed the tips of her tails into the ground.

She shrieked as electricity raced through her body painfully in order to find its way to the ground. Electabuzz finally just ran through a weak point in the Fire Spin, burns splashed over its body.

Vulpix shook off the rest of the paralysis through sheer force of will, whining in pain. The electric type ran at her at Paul's command, but this time her eyes narrowed with fury and she sprang to the side. Her paws slammed into the ground as she darted back toward Ash, not slowing down in the slightest. Growling fiercely, she ignored Ash's call for Payback and leapt off the ground.

Her paws smacked into the psychic barrier almost four feet off the ground, sending a rippling wave of energy over the surface as the kadabra fought to keep her in. But then she was rebounding, soaring over the battlefield back toward the pokemon. Her fur glowed a brilliant red, flames spilling from every pore.

She landed on the field as a bomb.

Fire exploded out from under her, licking against the dirt. It covered most of what the crowd could see but Ash still had a view through the stifling heat. Electabuzz finished its trainer's command and slammed a Thunder Punch into her side, but the pain only added to her anger. Quick Attack blurring her motions, she darted forward and slammed her paws into its chest, spitting another Flamethrower to finish the job.

Electabuzz's body just gave up, collapsing onto the ground. Vulpix shrieked against as the electric type's last revenge came through - its ability Static causing her paralysis again after she'd just gotten rid of the first batch. Paul had a light smile on his face as he recalled his first pokemon.

"That vulpix of yours isn't half bad," he called softly. Ash grinned back, not quite trusting himself not to brag about his fire type. Not the best social interaction and it most likely wouldn't help his case if Paul became angry and commanded stronger attacks because of it.

"Thanks." was the best he could come up with, and he'd take it. Paul bobbed his head back.

Eliza announced his win before pointing back to Paul. "Trainer, please release your second pokemon!"

Paul's fingers danced over his pokeballs as he stared at Vulpix, eyes narrowed. After a second, he tossed another one onto the field.

A tauros emerged from, stamping coal black hooves and tossing its enormous head. Its ruff of thick brown fur around its neck shook with it, though its thinner tan coat around its body barely moved in the breeze. Three thin tails whipped behind it, much slimmer and weaker than Vulpix's own. But its silver horns were sharp and being stabbed by those wouldn't just hurt - it would be devastating.

Vulpix just snarled, baring her teeth as she slammed another Iron Tail into the ground. The electricity was weaker and there was less of it, but Ash couldn't unsee the pain in her eyes as the lightning left her body. Determination soon replaced it. She might not be able to knock out this tauros, but she'd give it her all.

Tauros was about four feet tall and six feet long. Good for running, and he knew those horns would likely be lowered in any sort of charge it made. A normal type with no advantages or disadvantages against Vulpix. Perfect. It pawed at the ground, but it didn't move from the spot it had been released. Paul had trained most of his team in waiting for commands.

Eliza started the match. Paul waited a second before calmly stepping into the first move, pale eyes narrowed. "Tauros, Pursuit."

Ghost energy looked like shadows, writhing and crackling over the pokemon. Dark energy just looked black, seeping from the ground or tail to slither over the pokemon as it was ready. Tauros began to thrum with power, fur darkening to pitch. After a second, it charged furiously, horns lowered. Its hooves flashed as embers from Vulpix's fires sparked over them, but it didn't seem affected.

Vulpix fazed into Quick Attack and sped away. Tauros merely wheeled around, enormous paws cleaving dirt from the ground, and charged again.

Tauros couldn't stop their charge until they hit something. "Psychic barriers, girl! Make it hit them!"

She barked in acknowledgment and slowed purposely. Paul frowned but didn't command anything else - Tauros literately couldn't stop its impressive bulk until something stopped its momentum.

Tauros blazed toward her, streaming ribbons of tar, and Vulpix leaped nimbly into the air and darted away only feet from the psychic barriers. The ground trembled as Tauros collided, though the wild bull pokemon only shook its head quickly and turned around, facing the ready Vulpix.

Paul raised a hand. "Water Pulse."

Ash whitened. Vulpix opened her mouth to put up a Protect but she disappeared in a burst of scarlet light before the water got anywhere close to her.

It was the one thing that couldn't only put her out of the fight but this world, and he couldn't train her in any sort of defenses against it. "I forfeit Vulpix," he called to Eliza, who blinked but nodded her head. The Water Pulse splashed over the ground, setting out a few remaining fires and seeping into the ground.

"You did wonderfully, girl. I just don't want you getting hurt," he murmured to the pokeball as he pulled a new one off of his belt.

Apep bellowed his arrival, rearing immediately to six feet and spitting an enormous glob of hissing orange poison into the air. The crowd recovered from their shock and cheered wildly, eating the arbok's sign of strength up. Acid splattered around them, though none landed on the tauros.

His Shed Skin would help him avoid the remaining fires from Vulpix and his style of fighting would let Tauros, a rather up close and personal type of fighter, not land almost any hits on him. Already he flared his hood, revealing the strange, demonic face that bared white fangs down at Tauros. The bull grunted but didn't seem too frightened.

And even before Eliza slashed her hand down, Apep coiled up, making it seem like he was just preparing for battle. The second she started the battle, he began to burn a fierce white, the color splashing off of the crowd and Ash's face. He almost had to lift a hand up to block the rays.

Coil was a brilliant move, one he would take full advantage of. With Apep's attack raised, he would hit harder and his heightened accuracy wouldn't hurt either. His defense was more of a boon right now but one he could accept nevertheless.

Paul scowled at the move, obviously recognizing it. His Tauros, which had towered over Vulpix, looked little more than a plush toy next to the enormous snake, who grinned dozens of enormous fangs.

"Crunch, Poison Fang," Ash said softly, though it was still loud enough for Paul to hear. Apep didn't have the best of ears, especially with his head tucked low and under his scales in the move Coil.

The snake hissed and slowly raised himself. LIke a bullet, he snapped toward Tauros with his fangs dripping pitch. Tauros groaned as Apep slammed into it with his substantial body weight, nearly tipping it over. He slammed his glowing fangs into Tauros' shoulder and bit down, though the wild bull was almost too wide for him to get a proper hold it.

"Payback!" Paul barked.

Tauros reared, shaking Apep off, and spun around to gore black tipped horns into Apep's side. The snake was flung back, bruises forming, but only a second later he hissed furiously and sprang back into it, teeth bared.

Tauros dodged at its trainer's command, but fangs nipped it with almost lightning speed on the rear, immediately injecting waves upon waves of debilitating poison into its body. A hoof slammed into Apep's chin and he broke off, a bit stunned. But Tauros had winced, which was all Ash needed.

Paul frowned as he looked over the field. Apep was fast and so far hadn't been really using his full strength. Tauros was powerful but it was more meant to fight others of its size and smaller. "Stomping Tantrum and Zen Headbutt. Make them count, do not attempt to dodge, just perform the moves."

Tauros bellowed as it reared onto its back legs, paws humming a deep brown as ground energy leaked from beneath them. With the force of a train, it slammed its hooves into the ground.

A shockwave similar to an earthquake raced underfoot but Tauros wasn't done yet - it seemingly danced in one spot, rearing up and bucking to slam its hooves into the ground over and over, bellowing. Endless shockwaves raced over the field, slamming into Apep's scales and pushing him up.

Apep hissed back, scales flashing as he used Wrap on one of the rock piles to avoid most of the blows from Stomping Tantrum. It was a frustrating move as it never seemed to stop, just pounding more and more power into the earth until the user passed out from exhaustion or called off the move. Ash had to end Tauros' move before it managed to knock Apep out with the incredible effective move, and then stop Zen Headbutt as well before it hurt Apep's poison glands. He trilled.

The snake sped forward, ignoring the concussive blasts against his scales as Tauros bucked again. His tail gleamed, nearly three feet covered in burning silver energy, as he reared up to slam it into Tauros' side.

It bellowed and actually fell over, pawing at the air as it tried to find ground to stand up. Ash grinned. Poison Fang was strong but Apep adored using his tail and Iron Tail was all the stronger for it. "Fire Fang!"

Only a few embers trickled from his mouth as he got his fangs around Tauros' stomach. But his head was enough of a grounder and Tauros was able to get back on its feet and slammed a cyan colored head into Apep's stomach.

He was flown backward. There was no way to dodge. He shrieked in pain as the psychic energy swept through his body, hunting for his brain, throwing his poison production out the window as the sensitive organs were disrupted. There was a flicker of a smile on Paul's face as his Tauros stood at the ready, blood trickling from its bite wounds.

Ash knew what to do. His starter wouldn't stand to be taken down by a stupid wild bull and his face showed it. "Increase your speed! Rapid attack!"

Apep hissed as he concentrated. It wasn't an actual move but a wave of concentration pushing all of his force into his impressive speed, bringing his power to new, dangerous heights. It was exhausting for him and had taken hours upon hours to learn, but was very powerful against slow enemies.

He flashed once with Wrap, strengthening his muscles, before he launched himself forward. Tauros was still pulling back from using Zen Headbutt and it didn't have any time before Apep lunged forward.

Apep nipped at its back with Poison Fang, slamming Iron Tail into its side when it tried to kick him. He darted away, slithering behind another rock pillar to dodge Tauros' wild kick as the poison wheedled its strength away.

Tauros bellowed and started to run at Apep, and Ash grinned. "Rebound!" He called, letting Apep hear it. The snake immediately sank into the powerful move of Coil, still a fair bit larger than Tauros, and waited.

Its horns slammed into its side. A pitch black tail slammed directly between its eyes as Apep used Payback to launch himself a few more feet away, plenty of space to gather himself back up as Tauros whined in pain.

Paul looked worried now, one of the first expressions to cross his face. "Tauros." He sucked in a breath Ash could hear across the battlefield and let it out slowly. "Tauros," he said again, "use Thrash."

Ash frowned. Thrash released a bunch of chemicals that temporarily disabled the pokemon's pain receptors, leaving them unable to understand they were being injured and only able to attack without mercy or understanding. Their attacks were the same power but the move Thrash was the best way to use a finishing move with an incredible amount of recoil, like Double-Edge. Which Tauros could also learn.

Tauros froze, black eyes staring directly in front. Something flickered by its neck, mind triggering enzymes to create the dangerous batch of chemicals. "Use Double-Edge," Paul said, a hint of worry coloring his tone.

Ash cupped his hands around his mouth. "Apep! Dodge, Acid! Don't let it hit you!" Tauros roared and charged.

Its first attack cleaved a pile of rocks in half. It bellowed, shaking shattered splinters of stone out of its mane, ignoring the wound opening up on its chest and forehead from the sheer strength it was hitting the rocks with. Tauros turned and narrow eyes caught sight of Apep. It charged again.

Apep reared up fully and flared his hood. The face leered down over the field, swaying hypnotically. The two eyes gleamed both brighter and darker as Apep concentrated, forcing the thought that the wild bull was his prey and something he needed to stop. Tauros slowed, just for an instant.

That was enough for Apep to finish charging up an enormous burst of Acid Spray. A wave of sizzling green poison, toxic enough to change the taste of the air, slammed into Tauros' side. It slowed, Double-Edge stopped, and actually fell over. Writhing on the floor for a second, it ignored the pain of being poisoned until the Acid Spray destroyed the chemical shutting off its pain receptors.

There was a terrible, awful shriek, and Paul recalled the pokemon before it could truly fall unconscious. A somber look perched above his pointed nose.

Eliza announced the win for him, then turned expectantly to Paul. The boy tapped along his remaining four pokeballs, a careful look on his face. After a long while, he grabbed one and tossed it out.

A sandslash perked up, head twisting from side to side as it stared across the field. Its rippling back spines lifted and flexed, showing off their dagger sharp ends. That was a no for Wrap, then. Sandslash's whole body except for the weaker, white scaled underbelly was a weapon within itself.

Apep leered at the creature, still flexing his hood. Sandslash was only three feet tall yet it looked up at Apep with no fear, just curiosity, which was a far cry from the terrified little sandshrew Gary had caught.

Eliza grinned over the field. "And no, despite Ash's stunning victory last round, he now has a severe disadvantage! I wonder how this match will turn out! Begin!"

"Dig underground and charge up your move," Paul said immediately, and Sandslash reacted just as fast. Rearing up with its enormous claws gleaming, within seconds it had dug a hole underground and disappeared.

Apep stared at the hole that would most definitely fit him, but Ash called him off. He didn't know what move Sandslash was charging but if Apep went into the hole there was a chance it would explode right in his face. "Fire some Acid Sprays down there, bud. Keep your face away in case it comes up."

Paul's face tightened but he didn't command anything else. The bright emerald poison slipped neatly down the hole and there was a cry of pain, obviously striking something painful, but Sandslash didn't emerge. Apep frowned as best he could with a snake mouth and spat another Acid Spray down, this one larger. There wasn't another cry of pain. Dig was an annoying move to fight. He wanted it.

After a moment, Sandslash exploded out of the field only a couple feet away, bright green poison still sliding off of its back spines. Apep reared and spun to face him, hissing furiously and spitting out a wave of Poison Stings. Sandslash ignored the poisonous needles even as they stuck to its skin and merely concentrated. There was a ball of something in its mouth and it raised its stubby arms up, eyes closed. The ball of energy, tinged a dull yellowish brown, flew into the air and exploded only a few feet below the psychic barriers.

Nothing happened.

A wind slithered over the ground, picking up a thin stream of dirt and fooling with it. Another kicked up the shattered shards of a rock pile Tauros had demolished and inched them across the floor. A third brushed over Apep's scales, who hissed.

That was the only warning Ash got before a gale of wind exploded over the battlefield, raining down from on high to destroy the entire area. It was only contained by the psychic barriers, the crowd hooting at this change in development. Sandslash seemed to disappear from view, its ability of Sand Veil keeping it hidden amongst the raging power of the sandstorm it had just kicked up. Even the sun was blotted out by the furious winds carrying pounds of sand and dirt and rock.

There was no chance for Apep. He writhed in the wind, constantly buffeted and furious, but he couldn't move forward as every sliver of rock threw him back and only caused him more pain. Acids and Acid Spray and even a dark green blast that had to have been his attempt at Gunk Shot were just swept away to harmlessly splatter against the psychic barriers, where they sank to the ground. Sandslash stood there in the middle, brushing off the Poison Stings and watching Apep with the same curious look. It almost didn't even seem to realize the power it was using.

Apep roared at one final rock and fell over.

Ash winced as he recalled him. He had managed to poison Sandslash, which was a brilliant boon, but Acid Spray was still eating its way through the pokemon's defenses. It would be a while until the move actually managed to take a hold and started to weaken Sandslash, which was infuriating.

Siren would be great, though the sandstorm would still hurt her. But he wasn't releasing her into the fight.

Ro rumbled as he appeared, tucked as far as he could on Ash's side as he could get him to avoid the brunt of the sandstorm. He pawed at the ground, barbs extending, at least until he looked up.

He stared around in almost awe at the raging sandstorm, even as it buffeted him to the point of pain and launched thin slivers of rock against his side. Controlling the weather was always an incredible task to watch and Ro seemed enamored with it. Ash made a mental note for later.

There was one thing he had seen that would turn this battle back into his side of the field, and that was that while waves of poison didn't do much in the face of a sandstorm, beams of pure energy might not have that issue. They would be harder to shift in the wind and Ro had always had good aim.

"Ice Beam." His friend's incredible ears caught the word easily while Paul just scowled over the field. He opened his mouth and let traces of silver escape from his jaws before he fired a blazing beam of icy energy.

Sandslash were weak to ice energy, and Ro's wicked Ice Beams were no different. It couldn't move from the middle of its sandstorm lest the power whip it away and it couldn't use Dig or have the weather slow down and Ro charge in to attack him. Paul looked almost panicked now.

A shriek of pain that was quickly followed by another as Ro took a step forward and fired an Ice Beam once again. A third. Paul recalled his Sandslash before it hit, a truly annoyed expression on his face.

The weather died down and Ro churred up at him, head tilted to the side. Ash grinned widely but couldn't go out to greet his friend as Eliza raced down to raise his hand in the air amongst cheers from the audience. He barely was able to take the second to recall Ro, promising himself to congratulate his pokemon the second they all healed up. He clipped the pokeball to his waist as Eliza lunged to the front of the platform, dragging him along behind her.

"And our winner for the first amazing tournament is Ash Ketchum, who powered his way through these matches with his powerful pokemon! May all of our other trainers come forward?"

There were a few cheerful words, happy congratulates, and general thanks for an exciting tournament from Eliza as she patted him on the shoulder. Then she turned ack to the crowd and gestured furiously, the rest of the trainers coming onto the battlefield. Ash trotted down next to them, the stone having been quickly repaired by the kadabra. An assistant shoved them around until Ash was on the farthest left side, being led up onto an elevated platform. There was a blush constant on his cheeks as Eliza stepped her way down the row of trainers and spouted compliments for every single one of them. His embarrassment covered most of what she said about him, and then another assistant went down the row and started to hand out ultra balls and money.

Someone pressed a thin metal slide into his hands. He stared almost blankly at the ten thousand dollar gift card in his hand - that was enough for three reusable TMs, some of which he was definitely going to buy. It was time his time had a little variety, and the tournament had given more than a few ideas on to bulk his team up with power.

But then Eliza smiled in front of him and handed him clefairy's pokeball. It was warm, tightly gripped into his hand. "I'd suggest not releasing the clefairy yet until you're in your room, okay? I don't want it getting scared with the crowds and you would probably have an easier time bonding with it in a quiet enviroment." He smiled and thanked her. She grinned back and went up to hype the crowd with them one last time.

A final cheer for the tournament and then everyone was sent back to their room, ready for the actual tournament that would begin tomorrow with the much more intense pokemon battles. He was going to spend the night and a good portion of the morning working with his new teammate, but watching a tournament in real life would beat watching it on his flickering old television any day.

Clutching the pokeball tightly in his hand, he slipped through the crowd. A few people shook his hand and congratulated him as he walked out, but the younger tournament still wasn't too popular. More people came up to the two trainers chosen to fight first tomorrow than him. And he was already grinning as he watched one of the older trainers call up to an enormous pidgeot wheeling above.

But first, he had to get his pokemon healed up. Siren was already healed up and while Ro hadn't gotten anything else but blustered with the sandstorm, Apep and Vulpix needed a bit of healing. Fighting his way through the crowd, he got back to the upper deck and trotted toward the area.

They had replaced the attendant at the healing stations. The current one gave him a thin smile that changed to a more real one as he drew near, handing over his three pokemon. They promised him a quick healing, though they said it might be better to come tomorrow to have them completely better after the finals.

He thanked them before heading back up to his room. Second class still gleamed as he rode the elevator up, a bit jittery.

His room was still brilliant. He shoved the beanbag away from the bed, hanging his bag on one of the flying type perches, and shuffled a thin carpet out of the way. Enough room in case the clefairy was confused and wanted to do something. He kept Siren in her pokeball, setting it on one of the perches with his bag. He did keep his finger on the button of clefairy's pokeball in case he needed to recall the fairy type pokemon. Grinning, he tossed the red and white sphere.

The pokeball clattered over the ground, its edges popping open to reveal -

Nothing.

No swirl of scarlet energy, no creature emerging from inside, no cheerfully waving fairy type. Empty. No clefairy. No pokemon.

His pokedex blinked as he scanned the pokeball. No ownership - that was expected, he'd have to release the clefairy from its regular pokeball and capture it with one of his own - and no pokemon.

But his pokemon wasn't inside.

Maybe there had been a mistake? He'd go up to Eliza right now and see whether she had simply handed him the wrong pokeball. While it would suck his heartbeat had raced this fast for no reason, it would be something small. He frowned, clipping his pokedex and pokeball back to his waist, and turned to leave the room.

Someone knocked on the door.

He grinned - they had to have figured out they gave him the wrong pokeball - and walked over to it, holding the clefairy's pokeball in his hand. Another knock, one that nearly shook the boat as the hinges rattled. It would definitely have woken him up. He grabbed the handle and pulled the door open.

It was hard to make out who was in front of him, though it wasn't Eliza. Black clothing, which was what the crew members wore when not on the deck, and a couple of pokeballs around his waist. He yawned, raising a hand in greeting.

His eyes snapped open and the Team Rocket grunt lunged.

A fist slammed into his face. He felt the skin over his forehead break, a short spike of pain. The trainer hissed a dull thrum blurred his vision. The grunt stepped into the room and raised another two fists, sharp eyes picking out the pokeball in his hand and the other on his bag.

Instinct prevailed over the fogginess clouding his mind. He chucked the clefairy's pokeball at the grunt's face. It slammed into the man's face and he leapt, clawing for his own pokemon.

A kick hit the small of his back and he stumbled, falling forward. His fingers fell a few inches short of a rapidly shaking pokeball. There was a growl and the man behind him grabbed his ankles, pulling him away from his bag. The pokeball shook more violently as the grunt stepped forward.

His eyes flashed black but vision came only a second later. It was going cross-eyed but he could still see the man pick up Siren's pokeball and there was rage, rage the like he had never felt before -

He managed to lunge out and grab the man's foot just as the pokeball exploded.

The grunt yelped, leaning back, and Ash yanked his foot as hard as he could. He fell backward and there was a crack as his skull meet the side of the aquarium. His body collapsed against the ground out of Ash's sight.

Siren hissed as she saw the man, prone as he was over the ground, but her first concern was to get an arm beneath Ash's body and pull him to his feet. His head swam but he was righted, hunched but standing.

She flew a bit closer to the ground and picked up her pokeball, pressing it into his hand. He slipped it into her spot, staring around the room.

"Thank you," he managed, forcing out praise in his eyes. His ghost type had never been able to be held prisoner of her pokeball and now was no exception. She chittered warmly before her attention slipped back to the man.

Ash knelt by his side and slapped a hand over his neck, finding the artery. A pulse? He couldn't tell whether the pressure against his fingers was the man's heartbeat or the roaring pound within his own head. Black stars crept over the edge of his eyes, blurring Siren's worried form.

Overhead, the speakers crackled to life.

"To my men, we are preparing to leave soon. If you do not arrive within the next ten minutes, you will be lost. Passengers, I apologize for the troubling announcement, but please give up your pokemon unless you'd like to be killed by us instead of the ship exploding. Hurry it up."

There was something hauntingly familiar in the masculine tone, something that took him far too long to pick out. Dark eyes and thunderous scowls and thin, wicked grins flashed before his mind. Proton. Executive Proton was somewhere on the ship and he was promising to blow it up somehow.

He stumbled his way toward the door only to nearly drip over the prone body on the ground. Siren sprang forward and steadied his shoulder. His mind flashed.

If he left the Team Rocket grunt, the man might die. If he woke him up, he would lose his pokemon.

The hallway was dark, every fancy light shut off. The carpet was scuffed and doors all down it were opened. He pushed his own door closed, a few seconds of extra time if the man woke up. Sounds of a struggle mingled with the buzzing behind his eyes but the lack of weight on his waist drove him forward.

His pokemon. They were at the healing station. He had to get to them.

He barely remembered the turn and managed to find himself in front of the elevator. Every single light in the building was burnt out, the thrum beneath his feet of the ship's engines silent. They had managed to shut down the SS Anne.

Three stories of stairs. Each one hurt but Siren pulled on his shoulders, lightning the weight. Her dead eyes were narrowed and she was constantly tense, ready for anything that came their way.

He opened the door at the bottom, legs shaking. It was a silent, quiet night outside except for distant shrieks and screams from passengers. Waves slammed into the SS Anne, the boat unable to move forward and cleave through the walls of water. Liquid splashed over the deck.

His vision went blurry again but he pushed it away and stepped forward. There wasn't anything he could see beside blurry, rushing forms in the sheer pressing darkness but Siren suddenly shrieked and raced forward, arms glowing.

The raticate was thrown back by her Night Shade and he heard a crack - something broken. Was it dead? He couldn't tell. Something hot slipped from his forehead into his eyes and he couldn't find the strength to wipe it away.

Siren lunged again and grabbed the raticate in her arms, injecting enough poison to knock out a family of raticate. His mind pulled up facts useless in this situation. Five minutes without an antidote and it would die.

She would kill for herself, for him, that was clear. But the raticate's Hyper Fang died in its throat, Siren stopping its move. Vulpix and Joey Marvil flashed through his mind.

"Siren." His mouth was dry and words fought with his tongue. Was he doing this? He tried again. "Siren, protect me."

She hissed and flexed her arms. Poison trickled from the edges of her palms, eating away at the ground of the boat.

A brilliant burst of fire roared over the top of a building to his left. He knew the brilliant white of the flames even as the afterimage sent a blazing bolt of pain through his head. Was he that lucky? Stumbling a bit, he changed his course toward the building. Ten minutes to save them.

Vulpix bellowed in fury, roaring another Flamethrower at the advancing pokemon. The night sky was lit up by her rage but Ash could see the injuries still lining her fur as she paced in front of the healing stations. Ro weakly fired Ice Beams at pokemon that came too close and several pokeballs gleamed from underneath his claws. Apep was nowhere to be seen, but he had been knocked out in the battle against Paul.

The healers hadn't healed his pokemon. They had handed them over immediately to Team Rocket or maybe even were Team Rocket, he couldn't think through all of the war drums in his mind.

But Vulpix, even as feisty and furious at Team Rocket as she was, was still heavily injured. She couldn't hold off against the shadowed pokemon attacking her under the control of grunts he couldn't see.

"Go," he mumbled to Siren. "Grab their pokeballs and give them to me."

She hissed and started to float forward, drawing ghostly energy around her pink form. Malice dripped from her every pore.

A zubat sprang at her. Without seemingly even looking, she turned and slammed her fangs into its frail body. It shrieked, firing echolocation everywhere, but she shook her head and there was a crack. The bat pokemon fell to the ground and Siren continued on.

Vulpix nearly blasted her, grey eyes burning with the sheer will that was the only thing keeping her standing at this point. Ro perked up and Siren dove at him, grabbing the three pokeballs in her arms. Her poisonous glands would dink the surface but the metal was pokemon resistant, though it wouldn't stand up to everything. In fact, they actually had perfected ultra balls to the point that they would take basic moves, like Flamethrower and Poison Sting-

His head swam and he nearly blacked out.

When his opened eyes could finally see more than rippling waves of darkness, Siren was present in front of him, chittering nervously. Vulpix blasted back a few enemies that she didn't have the advantage of floating over and Ro cleared the last shadowed pokemon out of his view. Where were the grunts? Had they just released hundreds of pokemon across the boat and went to take pokemon from trainers and other valuables?

"Thank you," he said weakly. Apep's pokeball was cold as he clipped it onto his belt. Vulpix stared up at him with blazing scarlet eyes, revenge bursting beneath her fur as her tails released enough heat to start a wildfire. She was running on her sheer wish for revenge against Team Rocket but there was water all around and she couldn't survive the spray of a wave and she was still heavily injured from her fights. Ro wasn't any better and Siren couldn't fight these hordes alone.

Ignoring their protests, he recalled them. All three of their pokeballs shook violently but he pressed his hands against them and whispered words until they eventually stopped, though he guessed that was more from their exhaustion than any real bending to his pleas. He looked around with blurred eyes and began to force his way to the lifeboats.

More people ran by him, jostling his sides as they sprinted toward the protective railing. Lifeboats were filled much higher than their max of fifty and lowered down to the waves. A Team Rocket grunt cackled as she chased a crowd of people with a massive houndour, snapping darkly at people's heels. One jumped over the edge of the boat to avoid the pokemon in a long, drawn-out scream that echoed as something hit the water.

More grunts poured from the buildings, carrying bags and bags of pokeballs as they raced toward the front of the boat, grinning and recalling their pokemon. He could see something in the bright, something flashing with light like lightning in the dark storm, but his head pounded more powerfully and black closed over his eyes once again. He was already slower than the rest of the crowd and was one hundred and twenty percent sure he had some form of concussion, so perhaps that was the reason he didn't notice the man until he laid a hand on his shoulder.

He blinked and tried to refocus. Instincts prevailed again and he shoved at the arm, pushing himself away a few feet.

Blue-green hair tousled neatly above glimmering green eyes. A little smile as the man tilted his head.

"You see, Ash, I'm a bit annoyed at you for ruining my plans so thoroughly last time. So before the boat explodes, I've decided to give you a choice on your death. My newest may have his fun with you before the ideal but it'll be stunning to watch. I'm sure you and my hypno would like some catching up." Proton settled a hand across his chin as if thinking. Ash's head swam more powerfully. "The quickest death I can promise is, of course, very illegal to own but despite the League's powerful blusters, they never do manage to protect their Fossil Research Labs very well, do they? It's quite unfortunate."

He could barely think yet his mind kept pulling more and more useless facts instead of trying to find a way to survive. Proton had attacked the Pokemon Fossil Research Lab and had stolen something. Would he have killed anyone? Maybe. Ash couldn't tell and something burned behind his eyes as two brain cells finally connected -

He took a leaf out of the Team Rocket grunt's book and punched Proton across the nose.

The Executive stumbled back, eyes wide with fury and shock, and Ash promptly turned and sprinted as fast as he could into the crowd of fleeing people. His heart raced and his palms were sweaty. A pressure in his mind built up, no longer a passive blanket wrapped around his skull, and light spilled from the front of the boat.

But that was upset by the flash of scarlet light as a behemoth appeared in the middle of the deck. The rock covered beast immediately stomped on someone, crunching bones, as it emerged with an earth-shattering bellow. Grey skin, gaping jaw, narrowed black eyes. A wingspan three times his size stretched out to its full length as Proton, green hair whistling in the sudden wind, climbed onto its back. "Find him!" He shouted at the monster, the terrifying aerodactyl, rage bleeding into the air around him.

The words connected and Ash ducked his head and sprinted with the even more terrified crowd. Lifeboats were filling up and soon there wouldn't be enough left for everyone - several groups had released it with only a fraction of the people the boats were able to hold in order to escape.

There was a wail as someone was thrown off the boat. He couldn't concentrate on anything but the shriek of pain and fear cut off by another wave. Something was messing with the weather - winds were kicking up and waves were growing higher and higher, nearly reaching above the hull at their peak. Something powerful.

His answer was granted as people began to shriek. Proton shouted something but Ash couldn't hear it over the roar and bellow of the winds and his aerodactyl took to the air. The man's green eyes hunted through the crowd even as Ash could hear pops from the front of the boat - teleportation. The grunts were abandoning them as a shining white light shot into the air, glowing even past Ash's closed eyes.

The presence against his mind doubled and he had to know, he had to see what was there, and he forced himself to a stop as people streamed past him, leaving him alone on the deck of the ship. There had been no chance for escape via lifeboats - all of them were gone. And so he opened his eyes to see what was truly attacking the SS Anne and thousands of people.

It was hard to see at first. The ball of white energy wasn't actually a ball but a pokemon glowing so strongly with power it made his concussion slam painful fists into his skull. Green upper body, shining in the light, an emerald hair-like extension from the back of its head. A white… dress?

The gardevoir shrieked, the sound blasting across the sky. It gathered enormous power within its hands, raising it high above its head. One of the most powerful psychic types but they were gentle creatures that had never attacked any human in less than extreme self-defense, and even then they normally just knocked them out and fled.

But this one was screaming with rage, psychic energy flowing off of its body, building up a sheer ball of power that burned like lightning within its raised palms.

Ash frowned and looked closer. Something was wrong.

The gardevoir took up the front of the battle, but it wasn't the only creature in the sky. High enough to be partially hidden behind a cloud was a sort of blue ball, one bright enough to be the sun. He hadn't seen it in the splendor of the gardevoir but now he couldn't understand how he had missed it. Metal gleamed and purple fur flickered as it watched the boat with impassive eyes.

Pressure built behind his eyes. Gods, it hurt so bad, why was everything inside of his skull burning like it was on fire- he screamed as everything grew and grew- something was bubbling from his ears, streaming down his neck- the gardevoir raised its hands higher- the pokemon watched with burning, glaring eyes-

The gardevoir snapped its hands down and a beam of solid energy exploded against the ship. It was strong enough to instantly vaporize steel and wood and humans in its path without slowing down and he could feel it as the beam tore its way right through the other side of the ship and continued down.

It shuddered beneath his feet, the SS Anne trembling. The gardevoir began to charge power up again, shrieking with rage and pain and fury before it disappeared in a burst of scarlet light, appearing in Proton's hand. He grinned, still hunting through the crowd as his massive aerodactyl flapped lazily overhead, roaring angrily.

Water bubbled over Ash's feet, rising higher and higher. He didn't have his bag or any of the supplies that would help him to float.

Proton shouted, his hand pointed toward Ash's face. The boy took one moment to assure himself of his pokeballs' safety before turning and running. The aerodactyl shrieked at the thrill of the chase and charged.

It nearly got him before he dove off the edge of the boat.

There were a few moments of shrieking, painful terror before the cold water hit him. He was nearly frozen from the cold but the shock cleared his brain from the fogginess of the concussion and he managed to swim from the surface. His ribs throbbed. Pumping air into his lungs, he ducked under again and untied his boots. They would only slow down his swimming and he needed it to survive.

A single moment and he could feel as the presence up in the clouds focused its attention on him for a split, broken second and he screamed again as everything became so much more intense and sharp-

The monster _burning brightening brilliant_ disappeared from view, not in the scarlet of a pokeball or in a pop of teleportation but just merely ceased to exist in that space and appeared somewhere far away. The pressure against Ash's mind cleared slightly, still raging before his weak shields that were doing nothing to keep it out.

Water splashed up his nose and jolted him enough. His head swung from side to side and he paddled furiously toward a chunk of wood tore from the side of the building. It held his weight as he heaved himself onto it, gasping for air.

Behind him, the ship groaned. The hole in the middle began to spew water like a geyser, forcing the ship lower and lower as water flooded over the deck, washing away wood and people and pokemon alike. A few released enormous flying types and clambered on, seeking escape.

There was a brilliant flash of light and a Hyper Beam slammed into their pokemon. Proton grinned wickedly, soaring peacefully on the back of his aerodactyl as people shrieked below him. Something gleamed in his eyes, easy enough to see even from so far away. Water cleaved through Ash's shirt and now his trembles weren't controllable.

Proton flew away from the dying ship, which still heaved and groaned for air as the hole widened from the constant flow of water. It sank lower and lower, buildings tearing themselves off in the huge waves and frightening winds. With a final shriek of rending steel and defeat, its front was ripped off and the behemoth died beneath the waves.

Another Hyper Beam smote the water only a hundred feet from him. Proton soared overhead, cleaving through the wreckage in case of survivors.

Ash held his breath and prayed as he held one hand over his pokeballs and slipped off the board. The water hit him like a physical weapon once again and burned with the heat fire could never produce as he forced himself underneath the board. There was a tiny pocket of air under a bulge.

Wingbeats, almost directly above his head. Siren's pokeball shivered in fury but he squeezed it tightly and closed his eyes, almost not daring to breathe.

The aerodactyl let out a groan of disappointment and flew away. Proton's command lost to the wind as he searched for a new target. Ash forced himself to count to sixty as feeling in his legs faded painfully before sliding out from underneath the board and hauling himself onto it once again.

The ocean was still wild, waves picking him up and hurdling him forward as they swept the wreckage of the SS Anne into the water. His board went under several times but he always managed to surface as his lungs screamed for air.

Eventually, he was alone in the waves. A pitch black sky flashed before him as lightning crackled across its surface. The gardevoir and monster of a pokemon behind it had raised the weather into a storm stretching for as far as the eye could see. Ash clung to the board like the half-drowned rattata he was.

Hours passed. His muscles locked in place and he knew that Siren might be able to help him but she came from warmer waters, not the frigid depths around him. He wouldn't put her through that. Blood leaked from his forehead and ears and the burn on his lips told him he might have a new source soon. Everything hurt.

But the clouds began to crawl away and revealed a brightening sky. The light revealed a huddled mass of black on the horizon. Land.

He didn't care what it was, but he couldn't paddle himself toward it, letting the waves do the work as they pushed his bedraggled form on a crumpled lump of wood over its white-peaked surfaces.

The land grew closer. Mainly flat, peeling away from the horizon in a steady line. The green of tall, dark trees flickering in the gleaming light of the rising sun. The water grew gentler, warmer, coming close to shore. Enormous shapes wheeled overhead, flapping enormous wings he couldn't see.

One dove at him. After a second, he was able to force his head up to see an enormous fearow flapping to stay airborne, frozen in place. It didn't dare to land on his board in case it capsized. It moved closer and leaned down. After a moment, Ash understood its intentions. Wrenching his arms off of the board, he tucked his hands around his pokeballs and raised his shoulders as best he could.

The fearow's talons were like the sun against ice but he was so numb he couldn't feel the pain as their razor tips dug slightly beneath his skin. His jacket groaned and he could hear threads popping but the fearow changed its grip to be beneath his arms before flapping its wings and beginning to fly.

Wind hurt, but Ash could barely think enough to notice it. The fearow soared over the forest, coming closer to a gleaming city nestled in the reaching arms of a mountain. He didn't recognize it.

It tucked its wings in slightly and began to go down, wind pelting Ash's face. After a few seconds, it extended its wings fully again and soared down a sort of circle cleared in the middle of an area, paint spilled to make an enormous X. People scurried across it, movements panicked.

One looked up. "Fearow has a survivor!" They called, and instantly there were a half dozen people to grab Ash's limbs and take him from the bird. Fearow cried out as someone gave it several oran berries to regain its strength before it took off again, soaring back into the air to search for more.

The people helped him to stand, walking him over onto a mattress. A flareon immediately got closer to him and the heat washed over his body, taking the edge of the chill away.

Someone in a League certified uniform sat by his arm, pressing against his wrists and joints. "Severe hypothermia. Shaking. Lethargic - I'm noticing a slower lack of response in eyes. Wound on forehead suggests concussion. Chapped lips. Bleeding from ears - heavy psychic contact. Frostbite has settled in but manageable."

Someone else rattled off answers and then there were blankets thrown over his body. The flareon got closer, almost sitting in his lap, and he could feel his hands and feet being lowered into warm cups of water.

There was a person by his left arm, which took far too long to focus on. The man held a large needle in his hands attached to an IV bag, and though a smile sat on his face his eyes were nothing but concentrated. Moving slowly, he helped Ash to straighten his arm and started to press his thumbs against Ash's inner elbow.

"Geez kid, these are some of the most difficult veins I've ever had to find before, and I've helped over three hundred patients!" The man joked. Ash snorted.

Immediately the doctor lunged into more jokes, eyes fixed on Ash's. "Seriously! Finding a needle in a haystack with your arm, kid! I'm going to need a tracking device and several teams of helpers to get anywhere close-"

The edges of his vision faded the black. He could still see the man, who had stopped trying to put the needle in his arm and was staring fully at his face.

"Kid, I need you to stay awake. There are all sorts of problems if you fall asleep and we'll need your help to see what's wrong-"

He tried, he really did. But the black consumed his vision and he never felt himself relax fully against the mattress.

* * *

When he woke up, it was to Nurse Joy standing over him.

He jerked back, eyes flying wide. Nausea instantly split his head and he went to double over when Nurse Joy set her hands on his shoulders and gently pushed him back to lay against the mattress.

"Hush, dear. Don't move too much. We don't want you getting sick."

He stared blearily at her, not able to understand. She smiled sadly and pressed a gloved hand on his forehead. Her palm felt icy despite the cold he knew he should have been feeling. The SS Anne breaking, screaming, groaning as it fell beneath the waves. People and pokemon blasted beneath the water- Proton overhead- the gardevoir- the monster of something something-

Something began to beep steadily by his side. Nurse Joy narrowed her eyes and snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Ash, please calm down. I understand you're scared but going into shock is only going to hurt more than it helps."

"Where am I?" He managed out. His voice sounded like he had gone through a meat grinder.

"You're in Fuschia City, dear, and you've been sleeping for about two days. It's nearly night and you're going to go right back to bed to fully recover your strength, but I can answer a few questions right now. I don't want you overexerting your strength."

"How did I get here?" The idea of going to sleep was instantly shot down, though he didn't dare tell Nurse Joy that.

"Well, we aren't aware of how you got off the SS Anne or survived the waves, but one of our fearow saw you and managed to bring you to our makeshift healing station. We helped your more immediate problems and then brought you to the closest city - here - where I and my team healed you the rest of the way."

"Are my pokemon okay? I gave them to the healers but they were fakes and they had to break out of their pokeballs to attack pokemon and-"

She held up another hand to stop his rapid questions and breathing. "All of them are fine. Your vulpix was immensely tired and your arbok was fully knocked out, but frillish was fine and nidorino was just regularly battle injured. All of them are fine and I believe your vulpix told the arbok everything that happened, which we had to promptly return him after that. You have a very protective pokemon," she said a bit dryly, and Ash could only guess. Apep would probably have broken down walls if given the chance. When she pointed, he could see his belt on a counter by the window. All four pokeballs gleamed on its surface. His bag - he dimly remember strapping it to his back - was sat behind it.

But there was still something burning in the back of his mind, beyond the pain from his shields and the twinge from his fingers and toes. The SS Anne had been one of the largest ships ever created and thousands of people had been on board its majestic deck. Proton had blasted the wreckage and lifeboats but maybe there were enough flying types to get everyone away.

"How many died?" He needed to know, needed to know Proton and Team Rocket and the gardevoir had done to those innocent people.

Her eyes were blank. "That's not a question I'm going to answer in your fragile state right now, and my answer is final. Please, go back to sleep. I'll give you a mild sedative to help and tomorrow there will be someone who is more adept at helping to give you the answers you desire."

It was hardly the answer he wanted but the steel in her eyes told him that was what he was going to get. "Thank you."

"You're very welcome." She gave him a smile as she walked over to a desk on the counter he hadn't seen before. Withdrawing a thin syringe, she nodded toward his bed. "There's a jar of water for you and a bell if you need anything else. Please, get some sleep."

There was a needle in his arm - the doctor had finally found one of his veins, it seemed - connected to a movable IV perched near his bed. She stuck the needle into the back and injected the clear substance into the liquid already there.

His legs hurt, throbbing, but at least he wasn't frozen by the freezing burn from the water. He was able to move, be free-

The Fossil Research Lab. what had Proton said? The League hadn't been able to protect it. He couldn't think straight but there had been no alerts about any sort of invasion or thief, no messages to avoid the building, no warnings. The League didn't know about the Research Lab but he did and he knew who was going to save it.

Nurse Joy smiled as she pulled the needle from his IV bag, slipping out of the room. "I'll talk more in the morning, dear," she said, and then was gone.

Ash immediately lunged for his arm. He couldn't save the lab drugged up on sedatives. He barely managed to pull off the endless white tapes and slide the needle out of his skin. Blood leaked out but he pressed the tape over the wound and forced himself to stand. His head was swimming but his pokeballs were there. He released Vulpix and immediately knelt to put a hand over her mouth, ignoring the heat.

"Shush, girl. We need to get out." Protectiveness flowed over her eyes and she nearly shook her head but he kept talking. "I know where Team Rocket is and a way that we can stop them."

That shut her up, but she still stared up at him.

"I'll tell the League, I'll get everyone I can involved, but I won't let Nurse Joy or anyone not let us take them down after what they've done to us."

This got her attention, and after a second warring with herself she looked back up at him, eyes tight.

"The window. If you can break the window - quietly - I can get out."

She nodded and padded over, examining the lock. It wasn't much of anything, just something to make sure winds didn't bust down the glass, but Nurse Joy knew the trainers she kept and held the only key. There was a hammer by the side in case of emergency but that would sound an alarm and with the shape he was in, even with his pokemon, there was no way that Ash could escape Nurse Joy if she sent Officer Jenny after him.

Vulpix sniffed before angling her tails over her head. Her eyes closed as she concentrated and slowly, he saw the glass bubble. In under a few seconds, it was a mass of shimmering glass steaming on the window sill. It was almost too hot to imagine but after five minutes and the jar of water on his bedside table, he was able to crawl through the opening and fall onto the ground. He recalled Vulpix from inside. He had bag, no shoes, no supplies, but he felt the same determination that had filled Vulpix during the fight. He was going to do this, and the shadows swallowed him as he walked away.

By the time Nurse Joy came in the morning to give him a checkup and say that there was a League representative to talk to him, he was long gone.

* * *

 **Hey guys! Long chapter here, also long wait. Sorry.**

 **So I know for the most part, I've been cheating off Traveler and Challenger, even in this chapter. But I want you to know that this moment now is when things really switch. I'm going my own way and while I'll still have similarities, this is where I'm going to change.**

 **Also, sorry for the cliffhanger.**

 **Good news! I finally picked Ash's future dragon. Sorry about clefairy, but Team Rocket wouldn't just give him a pokemon only to steal it the next second. RIP clefairy, you will be missed. Maybe. You got like two paragraphs.**

 **And yes, I did switch around the chapters a ton.**

 **What do you guys think about me changing the title? Misfits was something I had originally planned on but I don't want that anymore. While I won't get rid of Ro and Vulpix I don't think it's fair to have Ash get every weird pokemon. And it's better to change the title now then when I get to two thousand words, eh? PLEASE ANSWER! I've been thinking maybe Searcher, Trainer, Seeker, Warrior, Fighter, or Finder. IDK on any one of them. Any suggestions?**

 **Anyway! Please read and review!**

 **Frost OUT!**


	10. Soul Badge

Ash's pokedex chirped quietly in the darkness. He growled as the tone kept ringing on and on, never stopping, until at last it bleeped sadly and shut off, leaving him with a prerecorded read over of Officer Jenny's voice.

As a trainer, he only had access to a few people from the beginning. League hotlines, Professor Oak, a few researchers. He could gather contacts but only from those that had pokedexes or other such devices, which was rare. So that was already a damper on his plan to inform someone of the takeover at the Research Lab.

He didn't even know whether someone was still there, but it was the only thing that made sense. If Team Rocket had done a quick get-in-get-out operation, the news would have hit the public. And unless they had only done it a few days ago and all of the people in there were missing, someone would have alerted the police.

The League hotline rang through a few times before settling onto a not very professional sounding recording. The buzz in the background spoke of many people moving and shouting and running around.

 _I'm sorry, but the League hotline is not available at this time. If you have any questions or concerns about the SS Anne or any of its passengers, please say 'SS Anne' clearly at the beginning of your message. If you have any other immediately pressing concerns, please say 'emergency' at the beginning of your message. These messages will be recorded and written down. We will look at them as soon as we can. Please have a nice day._

Sighing, he waited for the beep. "Emergency. I was on the SS Anne when one of the Team Rocket members told me they had attacked the Pokemon Fossil Research Lab. I am heading that way right now." He pressed the disconnect button and let his hands fall to his sides. Apep crooned up at him.

Officer Jenny - the one in Lavender, he hadn't exactly gotten a lot of official numbers from the gruff police officers - hadn't even had time to change her voicemail with the chaos that was no doubt happening in every League building across the region. Brock wasn't there either and Professor Oak was nada.

So he would have to figure out what was happening himself. And that meant going through one of the most untouched parts of Kanto.

The world swam before him in a sea of green trees and curled vines. For the most part, Kanto was well-maintained. The core four cities - Vermillion, Cerulean, Celadon, and Saffron City - had short paths connecting each other with defined routes and occasional landmarks. ACE trainers were speckled over the routes to protect people traveling and the League always maintained the forests and grasslands to keep away too powerful pokemon.

Pewter City was like that, but to a lesser decree. The strength and therefore demand of most rock and ground types, as well as the rumors of clefairy colonies, had kept the city at least in a good position. It spent a fair amount of money keeping its paths high quality, and had several passes that non-trainers could take around Mount Moon, though the mountain generated too much of their income to even think about removing it. The same was with the Rock Tunnel on Route 9 and 10 - Lavender Town had two other entrances to their town and the Rock Tunnel was a fragile environment. Attempting to move the mountain or the pokemon would ruin many lives there, and the League had strictly forbidden any sort of digging or mining in Mount Moon, the Rock Tunnel, or two other mountains or mountain ranges across Kanto.

Most of those mountains were around Fuchsia.

Fuchsia City was much farther away from the core four cities, the three routes of 16, 17, and 18 taking only slightly less than a month to travel one way. It was a relatively self-surviving town, which was only helped by the fact it was dumped directly in the middle of a rainforest.

Kanto was grasslands and forests, except for on its lowermost section. It was closely pressed to the ocean and had the least human settlement. While it wasn't a true rainforest, still having four seasons and its density not even remotely close to that of Kalos' Forest of the Clouds, the sheer humidity and undergrowth marked it as a perfect spot for many tropical florae to grow.

But the routes were far from well maintained. For the most part, the only people walking those thin paths were trainers hunting for more pokemon or those lacking access a psychic type. League forces or regular people just used Teleport or paid for the services of a League psychic in order to avoid the rainforest, and as such the routes were only swallowed more and more by the forest surrounding. The mountain range encircling most of the Fuchsia area only added to the uneasiness.

But Ash had come from narrow, stunted trees used to having to survive fire and poison attacks, ones that never really grew taller than thirty feet, and an undergrowth that sat meekly on the ground in clumps of shaking brambles and broken twigs. The hardest path he had walked had been through the Viridian Forest, which was only slightly worse than the other routes around Kanto.

The Fuchsia Wilderness seemed much more alive. Even though the sun was well-disappeared, wildlife flickered through vibrant green bushes towering above his head. Branches from the trees over fifty to a hundred feet tall wove together, stretching endlessly up in order to scratch a position in the sun's rays. The path wasn't hard packed dirt, just earth stamped by hundreds of pokemon feet. More than once, he had seen a trail some pokemon had stamped through the underbrush and had to second guess himself as to which was the correct path to follow.

There, in the Wilderness, surrounded on all sides by endless growth and wild pokemon not kept in check by the League, he thought that perhaps now he had gotten as close as he could to the ancient trainers of old, armed with a pokeball number less than two hundred for the entirety of Kanto and outnumber several hundred to one of pokemon.

Apep slithered next to him, rich purple scales sliding smoothly over the dirt. He wasn't a forest dweller's pokemon, even more so now that he had evolved, but he was all about heat. Though pokemon had evolved to keep themselves safe in almost every condition, he was still at least partially cold-blooded. Heat was something he did not take for granted, and the Wilderness held more than enough for any cold night or dip in chilly waters. He was practically vibrating as he slithered along, golden eyes wide and second eyelid retracted.

Ash was happy as well, though slightly less so. He grimaced at a slight pain in his feet. It had probably saved him but the boots he'd taken off in the water to not weight down his feet had been rather high quality and he'd grown attached - the ones he was wearing now were much cheaper, actual tennis shoes. At least he was wearing acceptable clothes and had all of his supplies. When he got back to Fuschia, he'd buy a new pair of boots.

But that would not be until a while.

Proton had been far from subtle and he had a mission.

The Pokemon Fossil Research Lab was settled in the rather close to Fuschia, which was blessedly brilliant. Off the main routes, people had been searching for pokemon when they discovered a hidden underground located within the mountain range of the Wilderness. That had only been less than two decades ago. It was made up of caverns and cave systems and even small canyons, all made of thick rock and full of pokemon that had had centuries without human interaction to grow more and more powerful. Fossils covered the walls and, after securing away the actual underground caverns from the general public, the League had immediately slapped down a research lab. It was kept rather hush-hush, the public knowing of their existence but not much else, at least until they started succeeding. Less than ten years after their creation, using Blaine's expertise and incredible luck, the Research Lab successfully brought a pokemon back to life - a tiny, baby omanyte, who survived for twenty days.

On their third try, they successfully created an immune system that would survive today's environment as well as adjusted their skin and bone density. That omanyte was still alive today, affectionally named Dolly and given a spoiled lifestyle. But on their seventh try, they were able to rebuild the organs needed for evolution and after that, their success rates went soaring up.

It was still a new idea, and few had ever seen a fossil pokemon. The researchers kept a close eye on them all, because while fossil pokemon could either be rather harmless while scared, like the omanyte and kabuto, there were also monsters, both from Kanto and other regions, that would level mountains when moderately irritated. For the most part, there were several fossil pokemon considered 'native' to certain regions. Of course, as per modern pokemon, nearly all had spread across the world. Kanto had omanyte and kabuto, two water types, which was rather strange since most considered it to be more of a grassland region. But nevertheless, those two pokemon were what Kanto had to offer. Aerodactyl, being flying types, were often found in every region as fossils, though there had only been a few properly brought back. They were angry pokemon whose tempers could rival those even of tyranitar. It made perfect sense that Proton would steal one of those.

He pressed on, clipping his pokedex back to his belt. One straight hour of trying to call every person he knew connected to the League. Even Professor Oak, who he thought might be the one far enough away from the disaster to be able to help him, was unavailable. The SS Anne was striking everyone.

Ash knew he had barely escaped with his life. A beginner trainer with only four pokemon facing Team Rocket's Executive Proton wasn't something that was going to turn out in his favor any time soon, he knew that. All of his pokemon had to grow stronger.

But he wouldn't just stand back this time. His pokemon deserved that. They had almost been captured and only by breaking out of their pokeballs had they been allowed to fight back. But not any longer.

Apep hadn't even gotten that chance. He'd been knocked out, unable to break out even if he had regained consciousness inside his pokeball. And Ash had only used him once in the tournament - all of his other pokemon had seen at least two battles. It wasn't fair to his starter.

His final evolution had given him more strength, but Ash knew that therein lied the new problem. Most trainers favoured three evolution pokemon, which made sense. Ro's evolution had given him more power and evolving again would only help, that was true. But for Apep, who was widely considered to be a garden pest that evolved quickly and peaked even sooner, he would have to fight for his future power instead of just gaining it in an evolution. But he was Ash's starter. Lance, someday, would watch as his final dragonite fell beneath Apep's speed and strength.

Apep rumble-hissed, the sound shaking Ash back to wakefulness. He guessed his concussion wasn't completely gone, but the minor headache it presented was easily manageable, if annoying. He stretched a hand out, only thin streams of moonlight crackling through the overhead canopy of trees, and found Apep's head to stroke the smooth scales there. "I'm fine, bud. Just thinking."

The snake didn't look like he bought that, but continued moving on nonetheless.

"I just- I'm sorry I haven't been working with you. I mean, we train and everything, but I've been working with Ro and Vulpix and Siren _more_. You only fought one battle in the tournament and I couldn't even let you heal."

Apep moved closer, pressing part of his body against Ash's side. A gentle hiss reached his ears. Guessing the mood and seeming to want to lighten it up, Apep trilled and flicked his tail at Ash's back. He grinned and swatted the arbok's hood, who hissed in faux disgruntlement, flaring the grinning face.

"But I'm going to make it up to you, bud. After we check out the Fossil Research Lab, I'm - we're - going to challenge the gym here. It uses poison types, which means that you're going to shine, bud. And after that, we'll have three weeks on the road of training before we have the next gym, Celadon! And that means grass types. And do you know what you're strong against, Apep?"

There was a pleased trill.

"And a month'll have passed when I reach Celadon, maybe, and you know what that means? A prize from Officer Jenny. And that prize will be-"

He stopped as something reached his eyes.

A sign, perched in a small section of cleared tropical brush. Some sort of thorny plant slunk around the wooden post, the Wilderness straining to reclaim even that tiny clear area. Words were scrawled over the surface: _Official Kanto Pokemon Fossil Research Lab._ It was written on plastic to avoid deterioration and after it began a paved road, one with a sharp turn at the end. Ash put his hand on Apep's head, who trilled and leaned down slightly to give him an easier time, breath trickling down his throat.

The top corner of the sign was eroded away, globs of melted plastic sitting in puddles on the ground.

He kept walking.

Around the turn stood the building.

It was a magnificent thing, made of gleaming silver metal only two stories tall. He could see that on either side of the building, the Wilderness had been hacked and cleared back in order to make room for an enormous fence, one taller than the building. It was what blocked off trainers from entering the underground caverns where they found the fossils. It was both to protect the pokemon from trainers as well as to protect the trainers from the pokemon. Made of gleaming iron that seemed to even rival the shine of the Silver Jungle of Saffron, it stretched on until it was reclaimed by the trees, though he knew it was still there. It wrapped around the entire mountain valley, snugly fitting everything inside.

The building was just as incredible. Windows gleamed from metal casings, shiny surfaces tinted to block incoming light. The front entrance extended farther out, marked with swinging glass doors. A dome extended from one side and he could see a recreation of the environment outside, full of trees and grass. There was definitely something moving within, though it was slightly blocked by the fence in front of it. While it would only take a powerful enough flying type that could avoid faint psychic barriers to get over the fence, there were a dozen pokemon guarding the fence at random intervals that would teleport in the instance something attempted to cross the border.

And it was all wrong. Some sort of battle had taken place here - the normally pristine metal on the building was scarred with burns, three gaping marks spread in a crisscrossed pattern slightly above the door. A sludge of poison steamed near the door - fresh. But he couldn't hear anything from the building, even as he moved closer. Apep hissed darkly, flicking his tongue out at the pile of quietly shrieking poison. But neither of them moved closer, tucked in the shadows of the trees, and for good reason.

For there, perched in the shadowy respite from the sun above the door, was a collection of bat-like pokemon. Five zubat and one golbat, each of the zubat firing off occasionally sluggish screeches that brought back waves of data for them while the golbat merely starred impassively over the field, eyes alight with a fury despite the pokemon barely twitching in the slightest.

Ash's eyes slid down to the puddle of poison. It was a purple, only darkened slightly. One of the mildest shades available for pokemon. Whatever pokemon that had created that hadn't been very strong. Team Rocket was notorious for using quantity over quality, and while he had heard that they used the zubat line as guards outside of their buildings, it didn't seem like they were well-trained.

Except for the furious anger all held, even with no enemy in sight or even the barest hints of a reason.

He had chased away a few unruly flocks of zubat before, mainly in the Rock Tunnel where they were slightly bolder. A few hits and they'd all leave, though he had a feeling these pokemon wouldn't do that. He needed to knock them out.

Vulpix might be able to do it, but she was flashy, and he hadn't brought her out in the thick and heavily present humidity that plagued the Wilderness yet. Siren would probably be able to handle them all, but she was far too slow to dodge the more powerful golbat. Ro was too slow overall, though his Ice Beam would knock them far out of the sky.

Apep was already out.

All of them were poison types, which meant that while Apep wouldn't be able to be hurt by half of their moves, neither would they. But being immune to poison only meant that the actual poison would be absorbed into his body, not that the knockback would be lessened any, or at all. "Apep, how sharp can you make your Poison Stings?"

Apep narrowed his eyes slightly, hooded spreading slightly, before spitting out a single needle. He had gotten much better control lately and it showed - the needle was about as thick as half of Ash's wrist and as sharp as a dagger.

"Can you make them smaller? Like this." He held up his thumb, twisting it around to let Apep see every angle. The next second, two much smaller needles joined the first on the ground.

While the larger needles were much more devastating, he didn't want to kill the zubat. "Okay, bud. I need you to fire Poison Stings at those pokemon, but aim for the wings. If you can pierce them, they fall and you can knock them out using only Bite, not Crunch, okay?"

Apep hissed, rattling the end of his tail despite the lack of noise, and moved forward slightly. The golbat was facing the opposite direction and its eyes were bad enough that as long as Apep stayed close to the trees, he would be fine. The zubat would be harder to avoid, but echolocation only worked as long as they were firing it.

His throat swelled. One of the zubat turned slightly toward him and shrieked quietly, the pits where its eyes hadn't developed yet twisting.

Apep hissed and spat over a dozen tiny needles.

Four struck home. Three zubat shrieked and pain and fell to the ground, collapsing in the rays of the sun. They shrieked louder and struggled toward the shade of the door before the needles punched through the membrane of their wings and the blinding sunlight knocked them out.

The golbat howled at the needle in its wing but didn't fall. Narrow, hate-filled eyes swung toward Apep and stayed there.

Another wave of Poison Stings blasted two more zubat off of their perch. The golbat ducked and swerved to avoid them neatly, barreling toward Apep.

The cobra pokemon merely opened his mouth, all two dozen fangs shining a pitch, shadowed black, and lunged forward to slam Bite onto the poison and flying type. Another shriek and the golbat flopped to the ground.

Apep slithered forward and nipped at one last struggling zubat with Bite, knocking it out completely. Then, at Ash's hurried motions, he shot toward the trees and curled up next to his trainer, eyes narrowed and searching.

After half a minute, the shining doors were slowly pushed open. A black-clothed person poked their head out, scanning the field quickly. Their eyes immediately landed upon the passed out zubat and golbat. Six red flashes of light later, they were all withdrawn and the Team Rocket grunt fully emerged from the safety of the building.

Ash's fists clenched at the sight of the crimson letter on their chest. He could restrain himself from ordering Apep to knock them out.

"Sir?" A masculine voice said. The grunt had a communication device in his hand and was talking quickly with someone on the other end. "The guards have been knocked out… no, just another pokemon, I think, sir. There's no trainer around here and I think one of the zubat are missing, probably eaten, although I can't really remember how many we had in the first place. Yes, there's an extra pokeball here. I'll put it by the desk. What do you want me to do?" A second pause. "Right. I'll get new guards from the back. Thank you, sir."

The grunt gave one last suspicious stare around the clearing, before walking back inside. Ash couldn't help the slight grin that flickered over his face.

He wouldn't win by charging inside without a care in the world. His pokemon weren't strong enough yet, especially if they banded together or someone stronger than a grunt tried to take him down.

But sneaking his way in had far more merit.

Creeping forward, he pressed his back up against the side of the building, keeping far away from any gleaming window. Apep laid flat against the ground and curled up slightly, slithering forward in jerky motions to make sure no one could see him as he paused every few seconds to check all directions. Ash moved closer to the door, hunched back. The grunt had said they'd grab more guards from the back. But how long would that give him to get in?

His belt vibrated.

He had to slam his hands over his mouth to prevent yelling a curse word, but after a second his racing nerves calmed and he realized the muted ringtone would attract attention he did not want at the moment. Hands jittery, he snatched up his pokedex and flicked it on. Officer Jenny was calling, the one from Lavender Town. He accepted as quickly as he could.

"Hello?" He murmured, keeping his shoulders low.

"Ketchum! What the hell is going on? Team Rocket and the Research Lab?" She barked back instantly, and he hadn't ever been so grateful he had lowered the volume to the quietest setting. Her voice was just as gruff as he remembered and there was a pant in her words that suggested heavy exercise before this moment.

"I'm at the Lab right now. Just knocked out half a dozen pokemon guards and saw a grunt come out. I'm going in to try and help whoever might be inside." Maybe, if he made it sound as certain as he could, she wouldn't teleport right there and smack him for even thinking of it. He could picture her, the bright blue hair he had seen her pull back into her more unique boyish cut as to not let it fall into her eyes and heavily muscled body she hadn't gained from sitting back. If she were here now, he didn't doubt that he'd be frozen by the furious stare she was leveling at her device.

But to no small amount of surprise from him, her voice changed from gruff and slightly worried to authoritative and commanding. "How many pokemon do you have on you?"

"Four. Arbok, nidorino, vulpix, and frillish."

"Have you contacted any other Officer Jennys or anyone else that is in a position of power in the League?" There was some sort scratching sound as other people rushed around her, and her voice was muffled as she shouted something at someone he didn't know and couldn't hear.

"Professor Oak and Brock, and all of the numbers I could reach. I haven't gotten a response yet." This was the voice, he imagined, that she used on new recruits or other workers. It wasn't what she had used with him when she promised him a reward or congratulated him after defeating Team Rocket. That voice had still said he was just a beginning trainer. Though they weren't equals, her tone suggested she was at least seeing him as someone who would be able to help her take down Team Rocket. Someone worth helping.

She snorted. "No kidding. Everyone is backed up to all hell. I can't stop you from going in there so I'm going to guide your ass around until I can nab a psychic pokemon and then I'll come to you. Lavender is relatively untouched, but all my other officers have been teleported out to the other cities. Where are you right now? When did you last see the grunt?"

He peered around again, back still pressed against the chilled metal of the building even in the heat. "They just walked inside about a minute ago, maybe longer. Said they were going to get more zubat or something to stand guard from the back. Should I go in?"

There was a soft chuckle. "I'll say it again - ballsy, kid. Detach the earpiece and shut off your pokedex. And talk quieter. This is a mission, Ketchum, not a joyride. The only reason I am allowing you in is because you're only spying to figure out what the hell is going on in there as all of my other officers are out dealing with the other shitstorm. I'm going to be helping them but my earpiece is in."

He nodded, though she couldn't see it. Pressing a switch on the corner, he was able to pull a slim curve of metal off of the design. Functioning a bit like headphones, they were the cheapest model the creators could slap on the design and call it new. The quality was bad and they were known for more static than actual conversation, but people still used them. Trainers mainly used them to both talk to a health assistant as well as videotape their pokemon.

Or go on spy missions.

Ash slipped the device into his ear, one edge curling over the cartilage to keep it tightly secured. Pressing a button, he waited a moment before static faded away and Officer Jenny's voice crackled in his ear.

"And I repeat, Ketchum, if you make a single move first, I will have you on probation and a black mark on your Trainer ID so fast your goddamn head will spin. Only fight back if there is no other option, and the second you can manage to get them away, you run. This is a scoping mission. Nothing more."

"Understood." He rose fully to his feet, reattaching the pokedex to his belt. Apep crooned softly, the sound thick and rumbling. Together, they slunk toward the front door and pulled it open.

A blast of air conditioning hit him in the face. The inside was sterile white tiles, a few houseplants barely gripping onto life, a large desk winding over the middle of the room. The middle of the desk was bucked like a creature stretching. Ash could see the skid marks from some enormous pokemon crashing into the informative desk.

Several holes were punched clean through the drywall, revealing thick steel below that was heavily dented. There were speckles of burns and dripping water - ice that had melted. Something powerful had attacked this place.

His earpiece crackled again. "Ketchum, report."

He felt his back straighten, even as he crept farther into the room, holding the door open for Apep to come in after him. "Signs of a fight. Something big. I don't know what. There are three doors in the back of some sort of entrance room."

"Front door leads to informational room." There was a sound of shuffling papers before Jenny's voice bled back through. "Leftmost door is observatory for inside habitat recreation. Center door is a hallway. Rightmost door is a tour location with fossils on display. Take the left. The center'll probably take you right into the hands of the guards."

He paused, memory flaring. "I remember seeing something move in the habitat recreation."

"I said habitat observatory, not an entrance. Follow my orders, Ketchum."

With only the barest hint of a grimace, he motioned for Apep to slide across the floor in his strange manner. The arbok poked his head around every bench and the large desk, checking for anything still living within the walls. He reemerged with a pokeball loosely gripped in his teeth. Ash took a hold and, listening to Jenny's muttered instructions, slipped it into the dirt around one of the plants. Her reasoning was far from comforting.

If he was captured, there was no reason to give Team Rocket any more weapons to utilize other than his own pokemon.

Spine whip straight and trying to pretend an icy wind hadn't settled over his shoulders, he nudged at the left door. It swung open without resistance, letting him creep inside.

It was a narrow passage, only ten feet across and fifty or more long. Same crisp white tiles scuffed with burns and poisonous marks. Four benches cornerstoned by filing cabinets and computers lined one wall. The other was dominated by a floor to ceiling window made of the purest glass.

Beyond that was but a section of the Wilderness, trapped off. Shortened trees twirled around with vines and bared branches for perches. The brush was softer but just as unmanageable, writhing stiffly against the barriers of glass and earth. The entire thing was encircled with hundreds of pounds of steel and glass, bound together to be unbreakably safe.

Except for the ten-foot wide break shattered through the glass.

The edges were ragged and speckled with dried blood. Something had forced its way through the window and by the hideous scratches marring every wall, it had been far from happy. The door on the other side of the observatory was ripped in half and only one rung was still attaching, hanging weakly as the gashes in the wall betrayed the size of the beast.

He muttered over what he saw, adrenaline crackling through his veins. Whatever had happened, this had gone beyond Team Rocket just poking their head in. The League had made the observatory as safe as could be. The rockets must have done something.

"I don't see anything moving inside. Do you think it could still be in there? Should I go and check it out?"

"Short answers, Ketchum. No. Keep moving." There was a hiss in her teeth born from quick movement and muffled shouts fought their way through the static of the headpiece, echoing in his ear. She was busy, wherever she was.

Apep suddenly froze, hood flaring out and revealing the glaring face to the world. Fifteen feet of diamond purple scales flashed as he used Coil, gaining strength and power. Ash couldn't stop the shudder that raced over his body. Something was beyond the doors, and his blood sang for him to figure it out. Team Rocket had done Arceus-knows-what to the pokemon and scientists here..

"Apep's acting strange. What's after the door?"

"The secondary lab. They'll be in there if they're anywhere. Recall your pokemon and scope it." She turned her head slightly and bellowed a command that rattled his eardrums. "Hang on, Ketchum, I've nearly landed a psychic."

There wasn't any sort of window he could peer through in the door - or really, any sort of door to hide behind - but he did his best, tucking himself to the shadows as Apep coiled near him, fangs dripping the shadows of Crunch. Muffled sounds reached his non-earpiece ear. Something was close.

Staring into Apep's eyes for a second, he recalled the snake and steadied his position. Standing, but hunched over, to keep his head lower to the in order to better avoid detection. He blinked and lightly touched the door.

Sucking in his breath, he looked around the corner.

The lab was enormous, two stories at the least. Windows were flung open, letting moonlight trickle through and land squarely on the floor. The floor was the same but the walls were drywalled as a pale grey, giving more life to the environment. A staircase clung to one wall as it wound upward, perched above the dozen-or-so tables and lab equipment dotted over the floor.

Except they were pushed to the side and a gathering of people stood in the middle, talking quietly. Black clothes. Red accents marred the accents and stood forward as a prominent _R_ neatly printed on their shirts.

Someone stood in front of them all, wearing a different clothing line. White sleeves and shorts, and their curly blonde hair was pinned beneath a hat. Though he only caught a glimpse, flashing violet eyes swung smugly over the Team Rocket grunts.

He immediately retracted his head, pressing his back against the wall. "Grunts. Dozens. There's a leader - yellow hair, purple eyes. Short."

"Don't know them. Find out more," Jenny demanded. "Any pokemon? Are they prepared for an attack or any sorts?"

Though he didn't think it was the smartest plan, he peered back around the door frame. He couldn't see any pokemon, but pokeballs glinted from the belts of the grunts. The leader had five pokeballs, the fifth pinned beneath two fingers as they admired the shining surface. He moved closer, shifting his reach up to stable himself against the doorframe.

His hand slipped.

Violet eyes flashed.

Ash whirled around the corner once again but now a voice echoed over the room that was suddenly silent except for the lilting tones trickling toward his ears. "Come, friend, don't hide like that! Let me see you."

"I've been seen!" He hissed furiously to Jenny. A muffled curse slipped through the earpiece.

"Get out of there this instant," she demanded. "Back down the observatory - hide in the habitat if you have to."

He had barely pushed off of the wall when a shadow filled the doorway. His hands fell to his pokeballs as a Team Rocket grunt stared down at him with narrowed eyes. Something pushed them aside and then the leader was standing in front of him, lips drawn back into a quiet smirk.

She was nearly as heavily muscled as Officer Jenny, well beyond Leaf. There was a strength to her that showed through her white sleeves and toned legs. Next to her five pokeballs, there was a mockery of a flower, done completely in black. It seemed so out of place he couldn't help but stare at it for a second.

Jenny's voice barked in his ear again. "Ash! Are you out?"

The woman pursed her lips. "This is hardly the way to treat your hosts, boy - Ash, was it? Come and join us in the main room, won't you?" Her voice was rather high and bubbly, matching her hair more so than any other part of her body. Her eyes gleamed.

He spared a glance, but there was no way he could run down the fifty-foot observatory without one of them releasing their pokemon or just catching him. So instead he followed the woman into the wider space and glanced around furiously.

The grunts were lining the middle of the room, but quickly ducked their heads and cleared a spot for the woman to lead him to. She was shorter by almost a head to some of them but steel ran through her veins and they bowed to her dominance.

Leaning forward, balancing on one foot, she clicked his earpiece and shut off Jenny's furious shouts. He flinched back from her being so close but she didn't seem to notice, lips still pulled back.

"Let me introduce myself - I will be known to you as only Domino, far from my name and instead a mere copy of my brilliance. I am one of the many leaders of the industrialist and powerful Team Rocket, and am the most important person you will have ever met in your admittedly short life."

"Not an Executive," he muttered darkly, fingers falling.

Her smirk bared teeth and transformed into a snarl. "For your information, _boy_ , I alone hold the Boss' admiration as one of his hand-chosen Elite Officers. The Executives are weak compared to me."

"Only five pokeballs," he pointed out.

Her shoulders looked like they would snap. He was rather proud of himself.

His excitement was short lived as Domino merely straightened, eyes narrowed. Snapping her fingers, three members stepped forward with carefully rehearsed behaviors. Each clutched at least one pokeball, faces grim. "Grunts, get him."

With a grin, red flashes burned into his eyes. Pokemon appeared, pokemon stronger than the normal grunts had appeared in front of him. Only three, but each were strong in their own right.

A koffing took to the air, the sick, twisted body bobbing as poisonous gasses leaked over the room. Ash hurriedly took a step back. A grimer, one hissing and spitting poison, slammed into the ground and immediately began to erode the sterile tiles. The most surprising was the mightyena, barking furiously and baring its fangs.

His eyes narrowed. It had been this way last time. Team Rocket had grabbed his means of communication and had forced him into being controlled by Psychic. Not this time. With a growl, he danced a step backward and threw his own pokeballs at the ground.

The grimer was the biggest problem. Even though it wasn't an evolved pokemon, that meant it couldn't control its toxins as well as muk could and had a much high chance of simply imploding if it grew frustrated or scared, hitting all of the pokemon around it with toxins that nearly rivaled Toxic or Gunk Shot. Already his eyes were watering from the horrific smell wafting over the battlefield - the pokemon's ability was definitely Stench.

"Apep, get the dog. Ice Beam the others, Ro - Vulpix, protect him."

The grunts' plans twisted around each other, made for a one on one battle. Their pokemon were used to them - it was hard to command a dark type, not to mention a fully evolved dark type, in battle without letting it accept you - but their trainers clearly hadn't spent much time on the battlefield. By the time their conflicting plans and open strategies were given, Ro had charged his first Ice Beam.

It barked through the air, three beams tightly pressed to each other, and slammed into the grimer. The pokemon lost a third of its body, splattering against the ground, but it rose again and tensed.

Mightyena roared, body flat against the ground, before springing forward. Apep lunged to meet it, fangs flashing. Poison Fang met Bite and Apep's mouth, which was large enough to nearly fit the entirety of Mightyena's head inside, quickly won.

Vulpix barked out a Protect over her and Ro as Koffing attempted to spit Smog over the pair of them. She dropped it the second before Ro let another Ice Beam rip through the air. The grimer exploded fully and laid on the ground, hissing through the floor tiles without the energy to reconstruct itself.

Mightyena yelped as Apep coiled around it, flashing several times as he alternated between Wrap and Coil. For both, he only squeezed harder, and he eventually relaxed and left only his tail still wrapped around the dog-like pokemon. A fling into the nearby wall and it was down.

Ro let loose a weakened Ice Beam, and it knocked Koffing low enough for Vulpix to get it. Flames broiling, she burnt the creature black and slammed it into the ground with a vicious Tail Whip.

"Apep! Wrap on her!" He barked, his starter hissing in agreement. Domino snarled furiously and chucked her fifth pokeball at the ground between them.

From the red smoke emerged a giant.

Seven feet tall at the minimum and at least three in girth, it stretched high enough to stare Apep easily in the eyes. Black fur curled around its body, its belly bleeding to a pale white, and a sort of strange flap of hair extended from behind its neck, fluttering over its back as if a cape. Its fur stuck up like spikes running down its spines, protecting skin thick enough to survive dozens of attacks. Enormous fists, smaller head, and a thin stem with a leaf peeked from behind sharp pearly whites.

He had seen one battle before on TV. A pangoro - a fighting and dark type pokemon known for their brutality in battles, though they would not challenge those it deemed too weak to matter. Judging by the glimmering fury roiling within its eyes that filled all of the other Team Rocket pokemon, that wouldn't apply here.

But it was a Kalosian pokemon. Kalos had closed its door for a decade and a half and had only opened them recently - certainly not long enough for Team Rocket to find a way to find a way around the ruthless poaching and criminal laws the war-tarnished region had added. It didn't make sense.

Domino accepted his silence and stepped forward, a good two feet shorter than her monsterous pokemon. "You are not as pathetic as you could be, but your pokemon's strength means nothing. How would you fare against five members? Ten? The two dozen in this room? Weakness is nothing I will allow. Although-" she let a smile mixed with a snarl slip over her lips, eyes dancing.

"You may count yourself among the few I deem fortunate. Your attire and overall attitude reveal you for what you have thus attempted to hide - a spineless beginner with no real sense of pokemon or their abilities. Team Rocket has no need for a weakling such as you and, of course, neither do I. You are hardly worth the time of my most powerful pokemon - instead, my weakest member will have no problem crushing you and all of your failures. Pangoro has only been mine for a short while, and I imagine that the time it will take to crush you will be much shorter."

Ash gripped Siren's pokeball. He needed every chance he had to win this battle. Pangoro snorted, fists clenching. Its leaf flicked through the air, and he dimly remembered that its leaf worked like a sensor, delivering the movements of enemies straight to the pokemon's brain. It was attached to its skull through the roof of its mouth, a special slot in its teeth in order to allow it to stay unbroken.

The doors exploded open.

He whirled and saw Officer Jenny burst into the room, blue hair pinned back. An arcanine bellowed at her back and two alakazam hovered by her side, their spoons glowing a fierce cyan as psychic energy poured into the room. A dozen other officers appeared behind her, teeth bared and pokeballs at the ready.

Domino actually _yelped_ as Jenny charged for her. "Pangoro, take out the brat!" She bellowed, raising her fists and plunging in. Flashes of red light lit the room as grunts and officers alike released their team members and began to brawl.

In front of Ash, Pangoro smacked its fists together and _roared._

The sound ruffled his hair and made his hat slip back an inch. It was a real move, Roar, one designed to scare weaker pokemon away from a battle. Pangoro slammed its feet into the ground and grunted, pitch black eyes sweeping over the field to look for his targets. Fighting types were incredibly smart, much more so than people gave them credit for, but whatever Team Rocket had done had taken that away. Pangoro's movements, while still smooth, lacked the vitality and derision the fight he had seen on TV had had.

A target presented itself. Apep hissed furiously and spat an Acid Spray over Pangoro's chest.

Pangoro waved the poison away dismissively but turned to face the snake. Its large ears snapped forward and it grunted, lowering its head and leaning forward. Apep matched his position as best he could, coiling his lower half on the ground. Vulpix made a sort of hooting noise and spat a glob of misshapen fire at Pangoro's back. It did nothing, facing Apep as the largest threat.

They snarled and lunged. One enormous fist met scales with a crack like thunder. Apep fought with all of his strength but he wasn't built for defense and was thrown back. Bruises bloomed beneath his scales and a line of blood trickled out between a crack, leaking onto the floor.

Ro bellowed a battle cry and spat a Shock Wave at Pangoro. It roared back as the electricity crackled over its body, sinking past its thick skin. Spinning, it slammed its foot hard enough on the ground to shatter four tiles and make the ground shake. Leaning down and closing its eyes, a gentle burst of light began to shine through its fur. Some sort of boosting move.

"Apep! Acid Spray!" He barked.

His starter pulled himself off of the ground, pain darkening his eyes. After a second, he finished charging up the poison and launched another assault. This time, he didn't stop, letting more and more rain down on the distracted pokemon.

Damnit. Acid Spray was Apep's most toxic move - he'd run out of poison eventually, especially at this rate. "Switch to Acid! Just try to keep it from using its move!"

The only two moves he had that were effective were Peck and Double Kick, both of which Ro had. Most fighting types didn't have many moves that involved their feet so Ro had a chance to avoid getting hit with his shorter bulk, but he was far from happy putting his friend that close to the behemoth. It had to be done.

"Ro! Double Kick or Peck, whatever you can manage! Vulpix, I need you to distract it somehow until I get Siren out!"

Vulpix's ears pinned themselves to the back of her skull. Hearing was something she did not have the liberty of as she streaked around Pangoro, Quick Attack bleeding her scarlet fur into a blur. Embers littered the floor around the fighting type's feet but it hardly seemed to care, grunting idly as a piece of fur caught alight.

Ro barked, voice deep and gruff, horn stained a pale blue reminiscent of the sky. He charged in and slammed the hunched over Pangoro directly in the chest.

The fighting type bellowed, but was pulled out of his boosting move before it could receive the full effects. Both of its fists glowed a fearsome scarlet, burning past the black fur, rich with fighting type energy.

Ash took the opportunity as Ro turned around and blasted Double Kick at the pokemon's side. Only one connected as Pangoro roared in defiance and punched his partner back five feet, dull silver claws skidding over the ground and ripping up a few more tiles. He chucked his final pokeball at the ground and let his ghost type emerge.

"Siren. We're in a fight. A bad one. I need you to hit Pangoro," he hissed, desperately trying to not let the dark type's attention land on the newest battler before she was ready or even understood.

Siren froze mid-chitter and stared over the battlefield. Her dull eyes flashed for the first time with a hint of fear he hadn't ever seen before, pupils dilating as she stared at the creature. Pangoro lunged and caught Apep with a vicious Slash, dull claws ripping a thin line of scales off of his body.

"Water moves only! Ghost ones won't do as much. Float as high as you can - stay away from its fists," he offered, his own fists clenching, before he pointed up. Pangoro turned away from Apep and focused back on the one who had hurt it in the first place, Ro. The nidorino rumbled, letting a bolt of electricity flash off of his horn and splatter over the fighting type's chest. Spasms rippled over its body but still, it forced itself forward and slammed a Bullet Punch toward the poison type.

Ro bellowed and was flung backward, directly below Siren. Pangoro's black eyes slowly moved upward to land on her pale pink form. She hissed, energy dripping from her teeth and eyes even as water was pulled from her cells and condensed over her arms.

Vulpix tasted the moisture on the air and darted away, but even her burning form couldn't pull Pangoro's attention. It barked, almost dog-like, before leaning down and jumping high enough to slam a shadowed fist into Siren's chest.

The unfinished Water Pulse burst harmlessly over its fur as it fell back to the ground, Siren sent whirling through the air until she slammed into a wall opposite. A pair of fighting grunts and officers jerked back but she forced herself back up, bobbing back toward Ash with an indention as large as his torso staining her middle.

She glowed faintly, light spilling from beneath her skin, and after a few seconds, Recover had fixed the worst of it. But he could still see the furious pain lingering in her stiff movements as she floated back toward the battle and all within it.

"Shock Wave, Ro and Siren!" He shouted. "Now, while it's wet!"

Twin rays of lightning curved through the air, swerving underneath the flashing Apep and slamming into Pangoro's dripping side. It bellowed fearsomely, swiveling, and Apep struck. He let the pain from the last Karate Chop rebuild until his shadowed tail cracked Payback against Pangoro's knee. A roar and the behemoth actually fell forward, fur cape smoking from a weakened Flamethrower.

Ash spared a second to search for Domino and nearly shouted - there she was, bright blonde hair bouncing as she fought _Officer Jenny_ in hand-to-hand combat. But the worst part was that she was _winning_.

Jenny had her fists raised, elbows settled near her chest, feet firmly planted on the ground. But Domino was more relaxed, movements smooth and focused. Her fists flew without worry, feinting and punching without any sort of tells Ash could see. Jenny was holding her own but it was clear who the victor would eventually be.

He was desperate. Domino sprang back, folding smoothly into a roundhouse kick that looked like it would take Jenny's head off. "Apep, Poison Sting!"

Domino immediately froze and fell to the ground to avoid the barrage of venomous needles, eyes widening before they narrowed the next second. She rolled into a quick backflip and got onto her feet once again, fists tucked by her side. Jenny sprang forward.

Only to be greeted with three rapid-fire punches and a knee to the chest. She screeched muffledly and doubled over. Domino turned to flee as more and more backup poured into the building, armed to the teeth with pokeballs and furious expressions. Her violet eyes flicked toward an open window on the second floor, next to the staircase.

Ash's eyes widened. He opened his mouth to command his pokemon to attack but quickly saw there were none that could stop battling in order to do so. Pangoro bellowed again, rising to its feet and shrugging off the various attacks they had launched at it. It slammed its fists into the ground, pure fury bubbling into energy as the ground bucked beneath its fists. Stomping Tantrum, but with fists. Ash was nearly launched into the air, lurching forward to grab a hold of a table bolted to the ground.

All of his pokemon were flung up, Siren only barely managing to avoid a table that was ripped from its bolts and sent sailing toward her. Pangoro straightened and, shaking off the exhaustion as if it was nothing, turned towards her with narrowed black eyes. There was a reason that every spirit didn't come back as a ghost type after they died. No scientist had for certain figured out why dark moves were so efficient against ghost types, but many had guessed.

Apep slammed a Poison Fang into the crook between Pangoro's neck and shoulder before forcing himself back. Poison types could resist fighting type moves better than most but that hardly meant he was ready for close combat with the beast. It hissed, but he couldn't see whether it had flinched. Maybe it had been poisoned from the very first Acid Spray - he couldn't see smaller movements through the veritable curtain of fur that covered its entire body. Pangoro spun and punched Apep between the eyes. The snake went flying backward once again and took a painstakingly long time to rise back up.

Ro caught the charging Pangoro on the side with another Peck, but another Bullet Punch forced him to the ground. Siren caterwauled as she was hit through the air once again, the move clipping her tentacles and forcing her up to the ceiling. Her head smacked the tiles and wobbled furiously on her thin neck, quivering.

"Absorb and Recover, Siren! Stay farther away and just use Bubble Beams!" He shouted a bit desperately. All of his pokemon were being slowly picked away - though they weren't hit often, the few times we almost enough to knock them out of the battle every time.

Ash clenched his fists and stared over the floor. Pangoro regarded its opponents with far more caution in its narrow black eyes, fists shifting between several attacks as it waited for something to strike at it.

A trembling beam of green light hit it directly on its cape, which seemed to have much fewer nerve endings than the rest of its body. Pangoro didn't notice but Siren perked up, if slightly, and used the excess energy to enter a second Recover, which took the edge of the pain away once again and slithered together the ends of her cuts.

But it wasn't enough. They needed to find some way to cripple it. Already, the beast wasn't the fastest. He needed to ground it before it managed to knock one of his friends out of the battle. Apep roared furiously as Pangoro scored another hit.

"Dammit," he hissed. "Vulpix! Take down one of its legs! Don't use Fire Spin."

She yipped tiredly back and immediately took in a deep breath, her chest glowing with the force of the fire building behind it. He had never been so grateful to have such an intelligent pokemon. Vulpix kept the Flamethrower inside her mouth as she weaved through a series of absent-minded Karate Chops before finally releasing it at the back of Pangoro's knee.

The pain made it grunt once again, but the sound carried far more weight behind it then they had before. It spun, kicking wildly out at Vulpix and launching her nearly a dozen feet to the side. If it had been a move, it might have broken her ribs. But it was just a kick and she was able to force herself back up on sheer willpower, baring her fangs and coughing out another small army of Will-O-Wisps to launch at him.

Pangoro blasted Apep with two punches, one Bullet and the other a Hammer Arm. He went soaring back, screeching with pain, firing off a noticeably purple-tinged Acid. He was running out of poison to use.

Ro darted back and hid under a bolted table, forcing Ash to jump farther backward in order to avoid the fight. He spat only a single icy beam that crackled against Pangoro's side. But it was the wrong move - the fighting type's eyes gleamed.

It lunged forward as Apep spat off several Poison Stings, enormous fists clawing under the table. Though Ro bellowed and fought back, Pangoro managed to get its hands around the pokemon and lift him into the air. Barbs punctured its skin but the behemoth hardly seemed to notice, flinging the nidorino around to use him as a shield against Apep's attacks.

The snake immediately stopped, eyes flying open wide. Ro thrashed furiously, using Pecks and Double Kicks as best he could, but before he could make a dent, Pangoro crouched and flung him sky high to collide with Siren.

They both fell, Ro slammed much harder into the ground. Siren barely caught herself but there was both blood and poison from Ro's bodyslam. Pangoro snorted, pleased, turning back to Apep and keeping his weight onto his uninjured side.

Siren gave a hiss with a strong note of exhaustion. Her arms raised and, tentacles flicking, she launched two Shock Waves that sailed through the air and met their mark on the back of Pangoro's neck, forcing it a few more steps away from her. It grunted again and spun to face her, knee buckling slightly beneath its weight. Siren hissed and shot higher into the air, letting Vulpix pull its attention with another weakened Ember. She groaned and forced her third Recover, the healing hormones barely pulling together her wounds. The injuries healed weren't worth the energy consumed.

Ro forced himself up, a muffled screech escaping his throat. His barbs extended farther and he charged up more Ice Beams, calling the last of his water reserves in order to continue attacking.

Apep was nearly at the end. He had been up close for most of the battle and it was showing - patches of his scales were missing in large pockets and he was bleeding heavily elsewhere. But his fangs still gleamed and though he had given up on poison moves, Crunch and Iron Tail slammed onto Pangoro without an ounce of mercy.

There was a wild, pained shriek. Ash whirled just in time to see Vulpix get thrown to the floor. Her side was a much darker shade of red and dripping onto the floor, and even as she forced herself to her feet she put as little weight as she could on her left side.

Ash recalled the vixen immediately. There was no way she could go on fighting without hurting herself more.

Ro was hit next. The Bullet Punch clipped his spine and broke off several of his extended barbs, the nidorino knocked down with pain. But he stayed fighting, blasting several Ice Beams to force Pangoro back as he struggled to his feet.

Siren fought to stay up, even with the slim amount of energy from Absorb. She had given up on Bubble Beams and now launched wavering Bubbles as best she could, managing to gather the energy to spit Shock Waves as many times as she could muster, which was unfortunately few.

Apep let out a pained, furious hiss and slammed an Iron Tail into the back of Pangoro's leg.

Bone snapped.

Ash froze. Pangoro's knee twisted out, bone crumbled beneath the heavy hits his friends had been attacking it with. The fighting type howled but stayed standing, twisting and bending as its balance was shot. Neither side attacked, but it was clear. They had crippled Pangoro. It wouldn't take much before it was knocked out.

Pangoro, in a final bellow of defiance, raised its fists. It was bleeding heavily and its black fur was sticky with more scarlet than white and black, its injured leg quivering as it pushed more weight onto it. But the reasonless fury still bubbled forward and, with its fists gleaming a brilliant brown that seemed pulled from the ground itself, Pangoro performed Earthquake.

The building _shrieked_.

Tiles fell and the drywall shattered, creating several gaping holes to the outside. Tables were uprooted and flung around, lab equipment cracking against the floor. Glass in the windows exploded. Pangoro let out a final, satisfied grunt before collapsing face down on the ground, its broken leg twisting beneath it and cracking against the cold stone of the ground. But that thought was the farthest from Ash's mind as anything else could be.

The League had prepared for earthquakes used outside the building, not inside.

Officer Jenny's voice fought its way to be heard. "Get out!" She bellowed, supporting the majority of her weight on someone else as they struggled toward an opening. Grunts and officers alike fled, clogging the exits as they rushed for the relative safety of the outside.

 _Damnit!_ The walls shuddered again. Pokemon battles were never held inside unprepared buildings for this exact reason - he had to get outside in case anything happened. But there wasn't any time to get out the front through the mass of struggling people and pokemon.

Gritting his teeth, he recalled all of his pokemon and clipped them safely to his belt, making sure nothing happened to them. Each trembled, even Vulpix's, but he wouldn't let them out until he could get to safety and heal them as best he could before sending them out to a Pokecenter. He flung himself toward the break in the wall and out into the League protected lands he wasn't supposed to be in.

The building shuddered again, but he merely started running. The Wilderness was on the other side of the fence, he quickly noticed, and there was a hearty lack of trees or underbrush within the actual protected area. Rock and stone were just as common as dirt and the flat ground bucked and broiled into hills and valleys as he ran on. His feet landed on ground that trembled mightily as the earthquake spread over the mountain range, cracking and snapping.

Before long, he stood at the foot of a mountain.

It could hardly compare to Mount Moon, barely a third or more of the height, but he still had to crane his neck back to see the bare tip. It sagged, more of a rectangle than a triangle, but the sheer power of the stone was obvious to see. He sucked in a breath, slowing to a stop before his feet attempted to carry him up a mountain.

The earthquake carried on and slammed into the mountain.

It shuddered.

Ash whirled in time to see a pillar of smoke erupt into the air, the shriek of breaking metal echoing over the valley. While he could still see most of the lab, the room he had been in had collapsed. Tiny dots of fleeing officers and grunts darted away on the correct side of the fence. The one opposite of where he was.

A rock the size of his fist crumbled next to his feet. Something roared, far beneath the surface of the earth, muffled by hundreds of tons of earth. Ash tensed, hand reaching for his pokeballs before he forced himself away. They were injured. Now, he would do his best to take care of them.

The earthquake had called the pokemon of this valley, undisturbed for centuries. He did not want to be there when they rose to the surface to find what had disturbed their rest. Straightening fully up and turning from the mountain, he waited until the last tremors stopped before starting to move.

His hand came up and fumbled for a moment before finding the switch on his earpiece. It switched back on in a crackle of static, humming like a bug before fading away to hearty pants and the shuffle of clothing. "Officer Jenny?"

"Ketchum! Where the hell are you?" Her voice was rough and tinted with more than an edge of pain - Domino had been far from easy to fight, even though he had only seen a few seconds of it.

"I ran out of the lab. I'm in the valley, other side of the fence. Should I go back to the building or-"

"No. We have no idea whether there are any more grunts in there and we don't have the manpower to try and figure it out - I'll send someone to pick you up. Get as close to the fence as you can without disturbing any pokemon." There was a disturbingly wet cough and muffled sounds from someone else close to her.

He nodded. "Okay." Keeping his pokeballs close to his side, he started to trot toward the gleaming silver fence. There were three different figures, humming with cyan energy and crouching near the fence. The psychic guardians, ready to stop any pokemon that wanted to escape the valley.

An alakazam shifted its black eyes toward his face, foxish face impassive. He couldn't find a hint of an emotion but something feathery brushed his barriers, making his head throb impressively. It immediately drew back and the pokemon turned back to the valley, the other two following its example.

Ash grew near, and before long someone appeared on the opposite side of the fence. It was a man in uniform, a bright red bushy beard poking overtop the crisp blue clothing. He peered at Ash's face, eyes narrowed, before relaying something into his own earpiece.

Officer Jenny's voice snapped at him, "Kid, is there an officer there? Brown eyes, red beard?"

"Yes. How am I going to get over the fence?"

"One of the alakazam'll do it for you. Just let it do what it needs to - they've all been trained by the League, mainly Will himself, and know what to do." There was a hiss of pain he was pretty sure he wasn't supposed to hear.

Indeed, one of the most powerful mortal psychic types in existence walked over to him, a twisted silver spoon gripped in each hand. Its gaze was impassive and dead, and he would have thought the creature not of the living except for the fact it was hovering and breathing. There was no touch on his mind this time, but with a feeling similar to his heart rising in his chest that comes with a great fall, his vision turned cyan. The next second, it cleared and he was standing next to the burly bearded man, doubled over and gasping for breath.

"It'll never get easier, kid," the man said as some sort of apology. "Been teleportin' for nearly twenty years and it's always knocked the breath out of me. Even the Lady Sabrina gets the wind out of her when she does it, though I suppose she handles it better than most. If you'll come with me, just one more teleport to the Pokecenter to get you and your pokemon all healed up. You suffered some damages there, I see."

Ash nodded weakly and let the man pull him fully up to his feet. His head spun and the barest hints of cyan trickled away from his eyes, but for the most part, the wave of nausea had passed. But that had been a ten-foot teleportation - what about a near hour and a half's walk distance?

They walked away from the fence, angling toward where he guessed the path was. Five minutes later and they broke out of the weak trees the League kept trimmed near the fence and onto the gentle path. A dozen or more people bustled around, an arcanine and a poliwrath standing guard at either end of the path. Arcanine had its eyes fixed on Ash before he even pushed through the trees, but a single glance at the man by his side had the fire dog relaxing, if slightly.

A dozen Team Rocket grunts, clothing ruffled or ripped, were tied securely in both ropes and handcuffs. Four officers stood over them, pokemon circling slowly, and more than one grunt bore bite marks and scratches. Their pokeballs were safely contained in a bag held by a particularly vicious looking officer.

Officer Jenny was sitting on a hastily assembled travel chair, teeth gritted in pain as someone wrapped around her ribs. Her shirt was pulled up and though Ash couldn't see anything, he still blushed and averted his eyes. A rough laugh, like the bark of a poochyena, greeted his ears.

"I'm decent, kid, just a splint to take the edge off. Any injuries?" Her helper tucked the edge of the gauze back into another side and dropped her shirt again, though Jenny kept her back straight and didn't let any more pain enter her voice.

"Nothing on me, but my pokemon are pretty hurt. Are we teleporting back?"

The bearded police officer nodded. "Our alakazam helped in the battle and need a moment or five to recharge enough to take us all back. There's only two of them and fifteen of us, and it's already a bit of a strain. Shouldn't take more than five, maybe ten minutes, though. Give 'em time."

Officer Jenny waved Ash over and he trotted forward. Even sitting, she was able to stare him almost directly in the eyes. "You did good, kid, especially against the Domino bitch. I haven't fought her personally before but she's been a pain in the ass since the beginning of Team Rocket. We found records of nearly fifteen years of martial art training and a couple of challenges she's won, but that's the only dirt we've been able to dig up in ten years. Went by Flos Black for most of her time out in the open, but that's just an alias meaning Black Tulip, roughly. It's actually a weapon she uses, harnesses electricity for some serious pain. Pretty similar to what the grunts had back in Saffron but more regulated. I'm just damn happy I managed to distract her long enough so she couldn't use it."

"What happened to Pangoro?" He asked, fidgeting - he didn't know whether to sit or stay standing. Did looking up, even if slightly, hurt her neck?

"Well, after you managed to knock it out, Arcanine managed to grab the damned thing and get it out before the building collapsed. Domino can't recall it unless she's much closer than she'll dare to be now, and once one of the alakazam manage to get enough energy to teleport it with its dark typing, we'll send it to a facility we developed after the Orre fiasco. It'll take a while but they can break the bond with its pokeball and then we can send it to rehabilitation. Good job on breaking its leg - if it had managed to use a few more Earthquakes, it could have woken valley pokemon." Her voice was deathly serious.

One phrase stuck out to him, mentioning some sort of place he hadn't ever heard before. "What do you mean, Orre fiasco?"

Officer Jenny's eyes snapped blank so fast it was as if she had been shot. "Nothing you need to concern yourself about." She switched gears before he could ask another question about whatever Orre was. "You're going to a Pokecenter, and after your rightful Nurse Joy chew-out, you'll meet with me. Domino attacked first and I can only guess she was the one to shut off your earpiece instead of you-" at his furious nod, she continued, "-and that means a spot of money as a reward."

He hadn't forgotten about his original reward, but it didn't seem like quite the right time to bring it up. It had only been about a week, maybe more, and she had promised up to a month and a half until she managed to score him something.

Someone shouted from across the clearing. "The alakazam are ready! They've taken the Rocket pokemon already."

Jenny pulled her lips back into a snarl as she just about staggered to her feet. Ash lurched forward to help her but she pushed him back, straightening up and flexing her arms. "She packs one hell of a punch, I'll grant her that," she muttered.

"Are you hurt? I didn't get to see most of your battle but it looked like she was winning," Ash said a bit hesitantly.

She twitched her arm in a motion meant to imply brushing off. "I'm fine. A couple of nicks but I was at least able to keep up with her. Escaped through a window like the damn coward she is - probably still in the valley. If she doesn't have a psychic to teleport out, the alakazam on the border will catch her before anything else happens."

Though the movement was slow, she raised her hand and whistled sharply. Every officer froze and glanced up, pausing in their packing of the hastily set out supplies. The bearded man held up a pokeball and recalled the poliwrath guarding the route. Jenny looked around but someone else made a show of holding up a pokeball and recalling Jenny's arcanine, handing it over to the woman. She took the pokeball and attached it to her own waist, a much stranger-looking belt settled on her hips.

The alakazam bled out of the trees, four spoons gleaming with brilliant psychic energy. Ash flinched but they each raised their arms, yellow fur almost seeming to bubble as they expended energy they had only so recently regained. The world folded.

Ash collapsed on his back, breath missing from his lungs. The sky, dark enough the moon fought to have a grip, gleamed overhead, stars casting their wavering glows as clouds undercut their beauty. Officer Jenny grunted and extended a hand, pulling him to his feet without somehow managing to bend her back and upset her spine. "Get to the Pokecenter. I need to talk to someone in Fuchsia but I'll meet you back there as soon as I can. You'll need to answer as many questions as we can muster about your scoping sights."

He nodded, still winded, and she marched off to join the rest of her officers. Ash turned and saw the gleaming dome of the Pokecenter, only a street or so away. Gritting his teeth and trying to massage feeling back into his lungs, he started toward the dim glow from the always active center.

It took him longer to arrive than his pride would allow him to tell. Adrenaline had carried him through most of the fight, even though he was running on nearly 36 hours of sleep, and now he was crashing spectacularly. His brain hurt.

But then he was pushing open the glass doors and entering the welcoming front room, shoes clicking on the smooth tiles. Nurse Joy glanced over, blinking once before recognition filled her features. It was quickly replaced by righteous fury. "Mr. Ketchum!"

He winced. "I-"

"Running off in the dead of night after sleeping on a concussion, not to mention the fact you had your vulpix _melt_ one of my windows! Disconnecting the IV that was feeding you desperately needed fluids and then not drinking a drop of the water I offered you! And as if that wasn't enough, you ran away to go Arceus-knows-where while I had a League official here trying to figure out where other survivors might have gone in order to save their lives! There is no reason good enough that you could tell me that wouldn't make any of my or the League official's well-deserved anger disappear!"

He tried anyway. "I was fighting Team Rocket!"

That did actually stop her short, if only slightly. He pressed on his advantage, words spilling out one after another. "Proton had an aerodactyl and talked about the Research Lab, and I had to go check it out as soon as I could before Team Rocket decided to pull their forces away or doing something after the SS Anne! I called everyone whose number I could reach and I did manage to get an Officer Jenny here - one from Lavender Town, as well as a dozen of her officers, and we managed to capture a bunch of grunts."

"Well then." Her voice had lost the furious edge and was now frostily cold, eyes narrowed and looking anything but friendly. "But then why would you come to the Pokecenter instead of wherever Ms. Jenny is?"

Ash averted his eyes. Nurse Joy had a manner that made him suddenly remember everything he had done wrong and then some - quite similar to his mom whenever he did something he knew he shouldn't have. "My pokemon were attacked. We managed to take down the pangoro but they were pretty hurt."

"Hand them here, please." She extended her hand, and he quietly detached the pokeballs from his belt and placed them in her grasp. With a touch of a button, she settled them onto a buzzing machine that quickly sucked them inside. A screen lit up and displayed a series of information. Her eyes only grew sharper as she read on.

" _Pretty hurt_ , Mr. Ketchum." Her voice echoed in the silent room.

"Do you know how we heal pokemon, Mr. Ketchum?" Nurse Joy said quietly, the frosty tone fading slightly. "It isn't nearly as simple as dropping their pokeballs into a machine and having them jump out the next minute. These are living, breathing creatures with real injuries you bring us."

"While you are still beginners, we merely take them out in our healing rooms and give them potions and bandages. Most wounds are merely superficial and are healed quickly. But now, as you grow stronger, so do the pokemon your own face. Modern medicine is constantly improving, true, but we cannot rely on that alone. Bandages will not heal a broken bone and while potions do, the pokemon are often sore and unable to battle for a while after. For those cheap, failed healing machines you see that the League offers to the high payers, they merely inject potions into the pokemon. It doesn't fully heal them, not the way our special, personalized care in our rooms perform."

"But therein lies the true problem. Three healing rooms of various sizes are well-enough to work with. Our largest can handle those of over twelve feet tall with a little room to spare. But even those rooms, as advanced as they are, cannot handle such excessive injuries such as those you have let your pokemon take! We will have to spend one full day, perhaps two, just to get your pokemon into a stable position, and then another two after that until they can move around and possibly battle, and even then the soreness will not fade until at least a week or more. At the very least, you haven't broken a bone of any sort, I shudder to think if the pangoro had landed any true hits on your pokemon."

"Our life is a rather thankless task, but there is a reason you only find specially trained nurses working in Pokecenter. An unappreciated job but one Kanto and the pokemon world could not run without. Let me put it this way; without the proper care my team and I are available to deliver, your pokemon would not survive."

The chilling words settled over him, leering down with pointed fangs. He hadn't ever considered a world without Nurse Joys and Pokecenters - a world where the only healing his pokemon could receive would be the healing he could perform himself, which was only the bare minimum. She was far from joking - his pokemon wouldn't make it long if left in their current positions. "I'm- I'm sorry, Nurse Joy. I've never thought about it that way. If there is a way I can make it up to you-"

"Let me heal your pokemon, Mr. Ketchum. We can talk more about this in the morning, when you are properly rested and restored. I am putting you back on the IV tonight, so as soon as you finish your talk with Ms. Jenny, return here and tell my assistant who you are and they will lead you to where you need to be. I have not yet had time to replace the broken window, so I do hope you enjoy the draft!"

With one last narrow look, she snatched up his pokeballs and disappeared into the back. He winced again and turned back toward the door. That could have gone better.

Ash padded toward the door, pushing it open and letting the humid heat roll over his body. The Lab and the Pokecenter had had ample air conditioning but it was readily apparent again how much warmer it was than he was used to. At least it had helped them develop truly spectacular air conditioning. In the buildings, he could hardly tell he was anywhere but back in the main grasslands of Kanto.

He couldn't see where anyone else was, all of the Lavender officers disappearing into somewhere he didn't know. So instead he idled, walking a dozen feet or so and collapsing down on the rough wooden surfaced, the armrests smoothed flat by thousands of hands. His feet hurt.

After around ten minutes of blissful peace, Officer Jenny emerged from around the corner. Her eyes snapped to him and she gave him a brisk nod, pointing with her chin toward the Pokecenter. He bounced back to his feet and followed her inside.

Nurse Joy was gone already and a blond haired man took her place. A nervous smile flicked over his face as the officer stormed up to him, passing over seven pokeballs and informing him that she needed them shipped to Lavender except for the two alakazam, for which she needed full restores. The man blinked but accepted.

Jenny turned back to him. "Alright Ketchum, we're going back to this place's police department so I can get you in a proper questioning room - just to record the conversation in higher quality, no need to get so nervous. Come along."

With that, she marched him back out of the Pokecenter and back toward where she had come from. It was surprisingly close, but then again Fuchsia was a smaller city with a quieter atmosphere. The Wilderness seemed to suck away any feeling over infinite space that most cities seemed to have and it more felt like each of the buildings, just three stories at the max without a skyscraper in sight, were all a simple cabin in the forest, surrounded by trees. The wooden designs and hooting wildlife supported it.

His eyes lit up as a squat building was visible over a hill. There was a pokeball stamped over the doors and purple stained bricks made up a rather intense walkway, molding with the regular stone making up most of the town. The Fuchsia City Gym, master of the poison type. Something of which he had plenty to spare.

The police station was interesting, if nothing else, but he didn't quite think it was anything to write home about. Officer Jenny pushed her way inside, nodding at all of her officers, talking to the Fuchsia City officers.

To Ash's rather discomfort, another Officer Jenny came up to greet his Jenny. They had different haircuts, different body shapes, and different facial structures, and there was also the fact the Lavender Jenny had cuts and bruises over her body, but it was like seeing a mirror behaving differently than whatever it was showing. After a moment, they both nodded and led him to a questioning room.

It was boring, metal with a bolted down table and two chairs on either side. He sat, she sat, the door closed behind them and the real talk began.

"Okay, Mr. Ketchum, while I hate to make Nurse Joy even more upset with you the fact remains that we need some answers about the base there. I'll ask and answer some of the more personal questions and then we'll send it someone else to get to the meat of the issue. Remember, all of this is being recorded and watched."

Ash really didn't have any questions, other than what was going to happen to the missing fossil pokemon. He relayed it over to her, to which she sighed.

"Tracking devices in a few of the more dangerous ones. My guess is that they most likely took the more impressive pokemon, like tyrunt and cranidos, and just smashed the containment systems for the others. We have a few psychics scouring the valley as delicately as they can and more to come, and they've already found all but two of the archen missing and the omanyte never left the pond set up in one of the back rooms. My guess is that Team Rocket didn't take any sort of manual about the pokemon and that should make it slightly easier - you can't train a fossil pokemon without having deep, present knowledge of how it operated in its past life and what you're going to have to change. They'll probably be a few tyrunt rampages, which should lead us to them nicely."

"The scientists are still missing, and we haven't heard of any sign here in Fuchsia about them appearing here, but neither could we find bodies. These people were masters of cloning and bringing fossils back from the dead - my guess, as horrible as it is, is that Team Rocket took them to a safer base in order to force them to work. Maybe they'll turn up, but for now, we're just praying they're still alive in order for us to find them."

She rubbed a section of her temple, still sitting bone straight to not disturb her ribs. Someone else probably should have been asking him questions, even if she was just going over the more personal stuff.

"Not more questions? Good. Now, please remember that you shouldn't tell _anyone_ not affiliated with the League the details we don't release in our press report. I'll send a copy over to you but those facts are what we tell the public and we don't need someone spilling more than we think is comfortable. Do you understand?"

He bobbed his head.

"What are you doing after your pokemon are healed?"

The question came a bit out of nowhere, and he struggled for a quick answer. "I'm challenging the Fuchsia City gym, then I'll probably go up to Celadon and challenge Erika. Then I'm planning on maybe Blaine then-" she held up her hand, and he stopped.

"It'll probably take you a month with letting your pokemon heal to reach Celadon, no?" He nodded. "Then I want you to head to Vermillion, instead. I guess I can let you know, but not all of the details - are you aware that Team Rocket drugs their pokemon?"

Ash tried to think back, but he couldn't remember anything specifically mentioning drugs. They were always rumored to have tampered with them somehow but he didn't know that it was some sort of drug.

"They pump them full the moment they capture them, and it turns them feral, or at least that's the term we're coining. Mindbreak, uncontrollable aggression, attacking without reason or following their nature. The kindest pokemon would still rip out your throat under these drugs. And for whatever reason, they've become stronger. Those grunts you fought in Lavender? Their pokemon haven't even passed the _first_ step of rehabilitation, which means it could take probably a year or more to get them to the point they can safely be around other undefended people. I promised you a pokemon, but I'm not sure you want one by the time the Indigo League is done and finished."

At his nod, she continued. "Surge's got his own personal pokemon rehabilitation center, built after the Great War, mainly for pokemon treated poorly by their trainers or abandoned in the wild. I'll speak to him before you get there but I'd like for you to talk to him and let him get you a pokemon from his stores instead of the ones from Team Rocket."

He couldn't stop the grin that flickered over his face. While he had known it would come eventually, now he had a clear path in mind to get the next member of his team. "Thank you. I'll head there right after Erika."

She snorted. "Sure you will, kid. Don't hound Surge too much - his town was hit the hardest by the SS Anne. Speaking of which, you will also be held here until the League official shows up and we can talk you through that as well."

Ash groaned. She smirked, stood up, and walked out the door. The next second the burly officer with the impressive beard stepped back inside, sitting smoothly on the chair and holding a collection of papers. The questioning began.

It took nearly an hour and a half to describe what he had seen in the Research Lab. From if he had seen any pokemon, to whether there had been any areas where the scientists could be hiding, and where did Domino escape through? Every question led to seven more until he would probably shrivel up if he didn't get water. The officer gave him a glass and refilled it after he was done, but not five minutes later the League official, wearing a truly displeased expression, marched inside and began immediately.

That was more difficult. Having a concussion and sleeping on it meant his memories were far hazier than they should have been, but he was able to recall most of what happened. Proton's destruction of survivors and pokemon alike made him shiver even as he told the story. The man, taking slight pity on him, assured him that he was far from the only survivor of the terrible incident.

He was never told how many had been found, or how many had been lost, before they sent him back to the Pokecenter.

His feet throbbed and he trudged most of the way there, pushing open the doors and nearing falling flat on his face. The assistant led him back to his original room and deftly stabbed his arm with a needle, finding his apparently difficult veins with no problems. The IV was movable, settled on four wheels, in case he got up to use the restroom or something, but if it was removed the full force of Nurse Joy would descend on him.

With that cheering thought, the lights were turned out and the assistant turned to leave. He asked one last, rather desperate question - how his pokemon were. Their answer was vague and unhelpful.

 _They are still in Urgent Care and are expected to remain there for most, if not all, of the night_.

The room was very quiet after the fact as they left. He closed his eyes.

Nurse Joy was, rather unfortunately, right. The draft from the melted window was unpleasantly warm. He pushed his covers off of his chest and tried to fall asleep.

* * *

For the next two days, he just puttered around the building helping all those he could. It was a nice feeling, grabbing supplies and sweeping around the couches. He did get the power to glare fearsomely at trainers who came in without wiping their shoes, and some of them even looked guilty.

But for those two days, all four of his pokemon were in critical care, kept under by sedatives and looked after constantly by a team of three rotating nurses. He wasn't allowed to see them, as to not disturb their condition, but Nurse Joy offered him updates. They had stitched together most of their superficial wounds and healed the inner bruising Apep had. Vulpix's wound on her chest was taking longer. Siren was kept in a large aquarium for her ability, Water Absorb, to assist, but even that wasn't doing much.

On the third day, Ro was pulled out of Intense Care and he was told it would be three more days until he healed up enough to move around, and another two until he was able to battle. Ash rushed to the recovery ward and spent several hours next to his pokemon, reading off funny stories and trying to ignore the slowly regrowing barbs on his back.

Siren was next, a bit surprisingly. With the sheer amount of ways she could heal herself available - Absorb, Recover, Water Absorb - her body accepted medicine much better than others and used it to pull her into a much safer plane of surviving. Her aquarium was bare and waterproof electrodes littered her body, but Ash pressed his hand against the glass and talked to her.

Vulpix and Apep both pulled through at the same time. Apep had scales ripped off and the skin underneath torn, but the injuries hadn't warranted ditto cells and after four days, was moved safely to the recovery ward. Vulpix followed - she had a large wound on her side, but it hadn't reached any inner organs and other than that, she was relatively unharmed. Ash spent the night in the ward, though Nurse Joy showed up around midnight and chased him out. He wasn't sure whether she slept or not.

With his pokemon still in the Pokecenter but Nurse Joy relaxing her hold over him, he was free to explore Fuchsia. It was a small, quaint town that operated on self-growth and care. The only tourist attractions were the gym and the Safari Zone, which he peered curiously at. But he didn't think he wanted to enter it yet. After he fought the gym, maybe, but it didn't appeal to him as much as it had at the beginning of his journey.

Oh, he still wished for the dratini line and a powerful scyther to rip into any opponents he had, but he had faded away from what he thought he wanted. Before, he had marked it down that he was going to have one water type, one fire type, one grass type, and so forth. He had already broken the rule with his first two pokemon and didn't mind if he did it again. Every pokemon was different and their typing didn't decide whether he captured them. Hell, if he found a nidorina who looked powerful enough to join him, he'd capture her if he could.

The pokemon in the Safari Zone were rather _pampered_ , if he was being truly honest. While they were stacked with powerful pokemon he would no doubt have a difficult finding elsewhere, that didn't mean they were strong. Growing up with League officials providing food if they ran out, stopping fights before they could end in death, and keeping trainers from attacking them gave them a simpler approach to life. Those same pokemon found in the wild would be much stronger.

So while he looked over the complex, welcoming building that marked the entrance into the Safari Zone, he kept walking on.

The town was still plenty interesting. He found many people willing to talk to him and tell him about their own adventures, full of wild stories and chilling defeats. It was a town where everyone knew each other and he repaid their time by telling his own stories, sticking away from those that involved Team Rocket in order to keep Officer Jenny's command. He even got to see a few of their pokemon, including one enormous kangaskhan that peered down at him baleful brown eyes.

People spoke with hushed whispers about some sort of Pokemon Zoo, built to keep rescued pokemon in an environment where they wouldn't ever have to battle again. It was slow going, but people were excited about the new life it would bring to their town and spoke of it with high praise.

But then eight days passed and his pokemon were ready. He accepted their pokeballs back with gleeful hope and immediately raced into a clear stretch of the Wilderness, throwing them down to the ground and letting his friends emerge.

He tested their limits and found their sores. Another day passed with only the barest hints of training but each were ready to fight. All of them except for Vulpix had some sort of advantage, but he was going to keep his promise and use Apep most of all. He'd throw Siren first, then Ro, and clean up the rest with Apep. Vulpix had been a bit miffed but she was the most injured still out of them all, and had enjoyed her last few days lounging around and not doing much of anything.

It was a bright morning as he stood in front of the Fuchsia City gym. There hadn't been much information online, especially since Koga had up and left a few years ago.

Well, not left, exactly. But he'd given his gym to his almost-prepared daughter and had offered himself to Lance to be an Elite Four reserve. He proved his worth winning against a shrunken battle against Lorelei and another against Bruno, though he all but lost for that one. So now, for the past three years, he had worked alongside Karen, a dark type trainer, preparing for the moment when one of the Elite Four decided to retire or the worst happened. It was generally accepted that if you won the Indigo Conference, you battled the Elite Four, but if you placed in the top four, you would get the chance to test your skills in a reserved battle with either Koga or Karen. Those battles weren't released to the public, in order to protect the challenger, but they were said to be impressive.

Janine had floundered for her first couple of months but had quickly settled into her new role as the gym leader. Her father had been a harsh trainer, believing in both the strength of the mind as well as the body, and despite training poison types they also offered many martial art classes in a side building when there were no challengers. A few had earned the moniker of ninja, but they were few.

Pokeballs on his waist, he entered the gym for his fourth badge.

It was well maintained, wooden paneling bursting with faux golden veins that lit the entire gym up with a sparkle of light. It was a welcoming place, despite training poison types that would normally corrode everything except for specially strengthened stone. He felt a glimmer against his barriers and guessed psychic guards, though he couldn't be sure. There was a missing tile in the ceiling, which was a bit strange.

There wasn't anyone in the room, which was a bit surprising. He had shown up fifteen minutes after it open, which he guessed was early, but maybe there was Janine was just late today? He couldn't tell.

A figure fell through the missing tile and landed on the ground with a _thud_.

He blinked. They were taller than him, black hair bound back in a tight bun on the back of their head. Rather pale skin that looked like far too many days inside instead of enjoying the sun and a neat line of twelve pokeballs skittered around their waist. As they raised their head, he could see flinty grey eyes. Janine, the gym leader of Fuchsia City.

"Welcome, challenger," she said, her voice harsh and barking, as if she hadn't spoken in twenty years. "Are you here for the Soul Badge?"

"I am."

Her eyes fell to his belt, face impassive. The stories told of a father who believed more in hard work and training than relationships or friends, and Janine merely stared across the field at him, a blank face.

"It shall be a three on three. I will throw first." Without looking, she grabbed the third pokeball from her belt and stared over the field toward him.

There wasn't a referee and neither had she asked him how many badges he had gotten already. The pokeball burst out and a golbat took to the skies, eyes closed in muscle memory to adjust to the dim light of the room and screeching to get a temporary view of the battlefield. They were tricky and fast, and though he had fought several in Team Rocket's ranks, he didn't think they counted. While they were fast, if his pokemon managed to get a hold on them it was game over. Their frail bodies wouldn't normally survive more than a few moves, especially in close range. And he had a pokemon who liked to grab a hold.

Siren burst onto the field, chittering warmly. While she had been briefed, she still took a moment to chitter something to Ash before turning back to her opponent. A shark grin spread over her face.

Janine didn't look impressed - or really anything at all. "Begin. Golbat, Astonish," she commanded coolly. Golbat finally opened its eyes and immediately sprang into action, lunging forward and trailing ghostly shadows off of its wings.

He had wanted to save the move as a surprise later, but that wasn't going to happen. Siren got violent if too much ghostly energy started flying around. "Siren, zap it!"

She giggled and raised her arms, careful to keep the electricity off of her. A burst of lightning shot through the air and slammed directly into Golbat's face, throwing it back and stopping the Astonish in its tracks. It hissed in pain, catching itself before it fell to the ground and flying back up to a decent position.

"Double Team." Her voice stayed the same quiet, raspy tone. Golbat shook itself so fast it almost seemed to vibrate, images bleeding out of its body and appearing in an arc around the room. Siren chittered, but Ash just grinned. Janine hadn't realized what 'zap it' meant, which meant she didn't know Siren could use Shock Wave, which homed in on the pokemon's inner power and never missed.

"Siren, Shock Wave!"

The electricity slammed into the fourth Golbat, sending it screeching and flying over the battlefield. Its wings crackled as it struggled back into the air, black eyes narrowed and fangs bared.

Janine inclined her head slightly. "Sludge Bomb, and then Wing Attack." Golbat reared back in midair and opened its mouth, venom slipping out and drenching the wooden tiles beneath it. The psychic barriers caught it an inch above the wood and held it, hissing and spitting. It was strong poison - Ash could smell the rather putrid smell through the barriers. With a screech, it spat it at Siren.

She stopped concentrating and dropped like a stone, letting the poison fly over her head. Golbat flew like an arrow, wings thrumming with silvery-blue energy, managing to land two cuts close to her head.

Hissing in pain, Siren lunged forward and wrapped all three of her tentacles around its body. Golbat screeched again and thrashed violently, but Ash just grinned. "Night Shade, please."

Golbat managed one truly impressive Bite that nearly made Siren drop it, but two Night Shades point blank to the chest knocked it out of the battle. It had been rather easy, and Siren let it drop instead of even attempting anything, not even close to worked up.

It disappeared from the ground in a flash of scarlet. "You may have beaten my first pokemon, but the rest are far from as easy. Go!"

To his light surprise, an ivysaur appeared on the field. While it did have a poison typing, it was a rare pokemon that specialised in grass types more than poison, and gyms were often heavily implied to either use pure or primary typed pokemon. Janine didn't seem like the type to care about superstitions.

The ivysaur looked well cared for, its fronds a bright green and the bulb on its back just beginning to show breaks in the petals that showed it was close to evolution. Its skin was slightly wet, probably because it had been recently watered for moisture. Grass type pokemon were cheap, but strange, to feed. It growled over the field, two vines protruding slightly from its bulb. Siren hissed back, but Ash quickly recalled her. "You did great, girl, but let's let others handle this as well," he whispered to her pokeball, slipping her back onto his belt and palming another.

Ro snorted as he was released, barbs extending and his horn weeping clear poison. Janine's eyes showed the first flicker of respect at the sight of the pokemon, head tilting slightly to the side though her stick-straight posture never faded. "Ah, you also know the strength of poison types? Nevertheless, my ivysaur has been a close companion and is a strong ally on the battlefield. You may have the first move."

His nidorino looked less than impressed, though he hadn't ever fought one before. The bulbasaur line were amazingly rare in the wild and there were only twelve successful breeding pairs across Kanto, which was incredibly low for the species to have survived. But they were tough and hardy, and it might be a tough battle.

"Ro, you'll have to get close to avoid those vines," he muttered. "Peck."

The poison type snorted a bit at having to get close but nodded, starting to move forward on his stubby legs. Silvery-blue energy trickled up from his skin, molding into a protective layer around his horn.

Ivysaur waited for a command, scarlet eyes narrowed. Janine spoke as Ro was mere feet away. "Energy Ball."

As if it had been waiting, Ivysaur only had to open its mouth in order to launch a gleaming ball of thrashing green energy into Ro's face. The nidorino bellowed but he resisted grass moves and the sheer force of his bulk was able to carry him through the move. Peck landed underneath Ivysaur's chin and blasted it backward, landing on its back.

Ash grinned. "Ice Beam!"

Janine frowned, her tight bun shifting as she turned to the side and pursued her options as if she had all the time in the world, not like she was preceding over a battle. "Razor Whip, please."

He didn't like the sound of that, and for good reason. Just as Ro finished charging up an Ice Beam, Ivysaur's bulb shook and a cloud of leaves formed above it, each shimmering with energy. Ro bellowed and jabbed at them with his horn, managing to knock a few off of their course before the rest slammed into his back. The next second, two vines nearly as thick as Ash's arms emerged from below Ivysaur, flipping it right side up before launching themselves as Ro.

The nidorino lunged forward and bit down on one of the vines, pulling it taut. Ivysaur shrieked and beat him around the head with the other, but it did almost nothing. When Ro finally let go, an Ice Beam exploded out with it and caught the vine, freezing it solid and letting it crash against the ground, useless.

Janine looked frustrated, with good reason. While poison moves could still know Ro back, they wouldn't do much, and the grass moves weren't harming Ro too much either. "All out! Seed Storm!" She called, her voice rising a hair above what it normally was.

Ivysaur tensed, forgetting its frozen vine and the pain it was no doubt feeling. The tip of the bulb on its back opened slightly before objects exploded out of it.

No less than _nine_ Leech Seeds landed in various positions on Ro's back. He rumbled and shook violently, managing to shake off three, but the next second they each exploded, wrapping endless vines around his form and grounding him completely. Ivysaur chirped its name, pleased, and Ro shot it a look filled with nothing but burning contempt. Even as his energy was siphoned away, he opened his mouth and spat two twisting Ice Beams.

Ivysaur had no chance to dodge. It collapsed, legs frozen completely, eyes rolling back into its head. Its Leech Seeds shriveled, no host to connect to, but the damage was done. Ro gave one last satisfied grunt before collapsing on the pile of dead vines.

Ash recalled his pokemon, the Leech Seed remains collapsed in a heap. Leech Seeds were a devil to fight - only grass types couldn't be sucked dry and more often than not most pokemon were. It pulled their energy so quickly the collapsed after only a few more minutes, making easy meals in the wild despite most grass types being herbivores. Janine followed suit, frowning.

"You are not disappointing," she said, a touch frostily. "But my final pokemon is the strongest you will face today. We have been training together since I took control of this gym and our losses are few. Venomoth, go!"

Ash wasn't the largest fan of bug type pokemon in the first place, and the moth just as tall as him was no different. It took to the air immediately, each flap of its wing sending loose particles of dust into the surrounding area. Its ability was most likely Shield Dust, which protected it from most status afflictions. Its purple fur ruffled as its wide, almost unseeing eyes flashed over the battlefield. Another secondary poison type, but bug moves rarely did anything against poison types.

Apep appeared with a hiss on the field, rising to his full height. His purple scales gleamed under the light, but Ash could still see the narrow white lines that traced where the pangoro had attacked him. They would fade with time but it was a stark reminder of what Apep had gone through.

Janine's eyes flashed again. "An arbok. You may have fine taste in pokemon but that hardly means your victory. Confusion!"

A psychic move. "Dodge and Coil," Ash said softly, pacing slightly on his side of the field. Apep moved to the side, tail cracking against the barriers, but his speed wasn't completely necessary. Venomoth's spiraling eyes had only just begun to glow a fearsome blue by the time Apep had fled from where it was looking at, and the Confusion faded.

Two, maybe more or maybe less, of those hits would take Apep out of the battle. He had to avoid them. Oh, if only he had managed to teach Apep Fire Fang in time - but no matter. He watched the battle carefully as Apep tucked himself into a tiny spiral, scales humming with a fierce energy. "Crunch if you get close," he said, trying to make it sound as meaningful as he could. Apep seemed to understand, tensing himself as the last boosts from Coil settled over his body.

Ash sucked in a breath and trilled. Apep lunged forward. Venomoth squeaked and instinctually blasted Apep with a burst of wind from its wings, a wave of powder bouncing against his body. But the Silver Wind only moved him back a few feet, which he quickly made up and slammed an Iron Tail at Venomoth's lower half.

The short, squat building and Apep's tall height made it easy for him to catch the flying pokemon. He slithered back, chuffing as his form of laughter, and waited for another command. Apep hissed and ducked under another Confusion, although it clipped his head. A spare drop of poison fell from his mouth onto the ground, but he hardly seemed affected. Venomoth, on the other hand, had definitely felt those attacks.

"Psybeam!" Janine barked, fists tensing as she stared over the field with a lowered brow. It wasn't going according to plan for her, and Ash barely kept his grin to a minimum. That was good for him.

At least until Apep took a moment to slither closer and the Psybeam caught him across the hood.

He caterwauled, flung backward nearly a dozen feet to slam against the psychic barrier. Venom bubbled from his fangs, the psychic energy loosening his control over his poison sacs. It hissed and writhed against the floor, but Apep's fury as he rose back up made it seemed like children's bubbles. He was _furious_ and in pain, and Janine actually looked slightly worried, flinty eyes narrowing. "Venomoth, Confusion-"

Ash trilled, Apep lunged, and the battle changed back into his favor.

The Iron Tail landed across one of Venomoth's wings and launched it to the ground. Its eyes burned with cyan ready to fire but Apep nipped its chest with Crunch, diffusing the psychic energy with the burst of darkness. Another Iron Tail across the side of the head and it was knocked out.

Ash blinked as Janine recalled her pokemon. That had been the easiest gym battle he had ever fought it before, only one of his pokemon being knocked out by a cheap move that nearly knocked out the user as well. His friends had only been hit a few times, scuffed up more the correct wording, but it hadn't felt nearly like the struggle Lt. Surge or Brock or even Misty had given him.

Janine had a burning pit of fury in her eyes, but she stalked over to him and nearly slammed a badge into his palm. Her hands were heavily calloused and looked strong enough to rip his arm off but after a second, she sucked in a deep breath and looked back down at him, much calmer.

"I apologize. I have not reached the zen as I should have, and must return to my studies. You have done well to earn this badge. If you wish for a rematch any time along your journey, return here and bare your badge. I will fight."

She turned sharply on her heel, marching back toward her side of the field. Crouching, she leapt nearly three feet in the air and kicked off a wall, landing a hand up the missing ceiling tile. A second later of incredibly impressive acrobatics and then she was gone, disappearing quite literately into the woodworks.

Ash blinked. Apep came closer, still leaking a not inconsiderable amount of poison from his gaping mouth, and brushed a coil of his scales against his trainer's hand. Ash scritched along them, working out a few chunks of dirt, and the snake rumbled happily.

"Well, bud," he offered to the empty room. "I guess we won."

A chortling hiss was his reply.

* * *

While Nurse Joy hadn't been entirely too pleased with him wanting to leave while his pokemon were still a little sore (and that wasn't counting the fact he had fought a gym battle with them so soon after Team Rocket), she had to let him leave. Healing up his pokemon took only a single night, though she had frowned at Apep's venom sacs. But then they were as good as new and Ash was fully stocked up for the journey.

It would take around three weeks to journey through the Fuchsia Wilderness and reach Celadon. Three weeks would be plenty of time to train with his team, as well as figure out where to go from there with them. He had seen Ro's adoring look of the sandslash's sandstorm and Celadon was filled to the brim of TMs ripe for the taking, including a few more he wanted for the rest of his team.

Not including the new member he'd be getting from Surge. He bubbled with excitement at the thought. It had the chance to be an electric type, which made sense being Surge, but in all honesty, it could be anything.

Staring ahead, he took in the humid depths of the Wilderness ahead. Apep hissed at his side, golden eyes bright at the warmth around him. Ash touched his head and took a step forward. His pokedex buzzed.

He stopped, reaching down to pull it off of his belt. It wasn't a call, no ringtone, but messages were rather rare to receive over pokedexes, as both parties had to have each other's number as well as a pokedex or other League registered device. But there on the screen was a notice, a crisp white against the black of the background. He pressed on it, holding it down slightly to let Apep peer at the device despite not being able to read.

It had been sent five minutes ago, but the location was undisclosed. No subject line, and no attached links.

The sender was on the top line. _Ash Ketchum, 10, Pokemon Trainer_.

He had sent this to himself?

There was only one line of text, the letters bolded and underlined against the blank of the page.

 _Pathetic_.

* * *

 ***crickets chirp***

 **H** _ **eeeeeeeeeeee**_ **y guys**

 **So yeah. I'm sorry. I really am! But as much as I love this story, I took a quick break for some family stuff as well as a bit of a relaxer. Its hard to get chapters out, as much as I love it.**

 **But I'm back! A bit of a shorter chapter but I'll get back into the swing of things shortly. Not entirely pleased with the gym battle but you guys have waited long enough for me to put something out there. I hope you enjoy!**

 **Also YAY 200,000 words!**

 **Totally random question - what's everyone's favourite eeveelution? Personally, it's either Jolteon or Vaporeon for me. I played through my pokemon X again and fell in love again xD**

 **Anyway! Please read and review!**

 **Frost OUT!**


	11. Apologies

It had been nearly a week, and yet he had come no closer to figure out the strange message on his pokedex. One word, his own name as the sender, sent through a League-registered device. Ash was about as far away from an answer as he had been at the start.

The Wilderness was beautiful and frightening. Every night ended with the hoot of wild pokemon and screeching wildlife. Fauna rustled by invisible paws and more than once, he heard the unsettling hiss of a hidden arbok somewhere in the trees. As such, Apep was nearly always next to him while he walked. Apep adored the hot, humid world of the Wilderness, but Ash appreciated it less so. Mainly because of training.

There was so much moisture in the atmosphere that Apep couldn't come anywhere close to producing enough heat for Fire Fang. His minuscule progress was stopped by the Wilderness, just when he had started to make some headway. So Ash, still being the optimistic one, had decided to try Ice Fang for the grass types of Celadon City Gym.

The temperature stopped that move _flat_. Even Ro couldn't fire more than one to two Ice Beams without being drained completely of energy.

Vulpix suffered the most. The humidity prevented her from being out most of the time except for in less crowded parts of the jungle, but whenever she was able to be out, she had pranced happily through the heat and popped out Will-O-Wisps to float comfortably over her head at every given moment. He had started her on Flame Burst, an exploding fireball that she had picked up on extremely quickly. Her moves, however, were something he needed to increase quickly. Celadon was going to be the land of new moves and he was going to try to get something for all of his pokemon.

Siren enjoyed it, mostly, at least the moisture. It rained - frequently - and while he slogged through more mud than path, she cheerfully bobbed and chittered beside him. Her Water Sport at least had gotten stronger from being around so much rain, and while she wouldn't be able to master Rain Dance until she evolved and gained the power necessary, she was working toward it.

Ro was fine. He didn't mind it too much, especially since he hardly spent any time on the road without training. The nidorino enjoyed stasis without any grumbles of protest,f which Ash was grateful for. If Ro had tried to exercise every day on top of training, he might not have enough food to last them through the Wilderness.

There had been encounters with pokemon - Ash had accidentally trapped a weedle in his sleeping bag one night without realizing it, and he had woken up to several bleeding stings over his chest. He hadn't seen the weedle, but Apep had had a smugly satisfied look on his face while Ash cleaned his wounds and removed traces of the poison. A few challenges, but for the most part, the only pokemon that showed themselves from the dark of the trees were rattata and their line. Spearow were common, as well as their evolution, but flying types had a hard time fighting in the close corners of the Wilderness and stayed to staring threateningly from a distance.

Ash was disappointed at the lack of trainers. Only a few, and while they were the ones he could tell were heavily inspired and wouldn't give up training their pokemon for the comfort of teleporting to the next city, they were few and far between. Each battle was brilliant and he won a fair amount of money off of them, which went straight to his funds for TMs at Celadon. He was quickly gaining funds.

But then, to his surprise, he stumbled across a familiar face a week into his journey.

A bobbing mass of red spiked hair was his first sign. Then dark eyes and a wide smile. Then a wartortle walking obediently behind him. "Ashy-boy!"

"Gary!" Ash grinned, trotting forward. Apep hurried behind him, but the arbok's greeting hiss was far less warm. He stared at Wartortle, flexing his hood and hissing all the while. To his credit, Wartortle did blink.

"Hell kid, you finally evolved a pokemon! Thought for sure it'd take you at least five more months," he said appreciatively, staring over Apep's impressive form. Ash silently cursed not recalling the arbok so he could truly surprise Gary later, but let his starter preen over the praise and rise up fully. "Fifteen feet means he's had to have been evolved for three months or more. Think you could tell me how you did that in a month and a half?"

Ash grinned. "I won't tell. How do you feel about a battle?"

Gary crossed his arms, and Wartortle copied his motion. They both wore the same confident smirk and looked far from worried. "Hell yes! I know just the spot."

He led Ash for about five minutes up the hill to a wide clearing. They talked about everything and nothing, but Ash couldn't bring himself to talk about the SS Anne or the messages on his pokedex. Any time he brought the first up, endless blue crowded his mind and wouldn't leave, pulling him down.

Ash looked around, but couldn't find anything that would lead to his advantage. It was just a wide open area, cleared from most trees by some sort of widespread pokemon move, probably poison if the corroded stumps were anything to go by. The grass was growing back neatly but dirt was still easily visible.

"Caught any new members for your team?" Ash asked, tapping his fingers along his pokeballs. Gary knew about all of them except for Siren, but Ro evolving wasn't something he knew.

"Of course, I'm up to eleven. I'll probably find one more kickass pokemon before stopping. But I'll probably only need one more to kick _you_ back to Pallet, and it won't even need to be Wartortle." The turtle in question grinned, slamming two fists together. Ash narrowed his eyes at the hint of coiling mist at the motion - a punch move, most likely just beginning in its training.

Gary continued. "But the real question is if you ever manned the hell up and caught something for yourself, huh? I'm guessing a pidgey, right? No! No! A rattata. Yes, that's much more your style."

Ash laughed and punched his friend's shoulder. They both grinned at each other before moving away, putting some room between them for the battle. Gary mocking raised one of his pokeballs, gesturing for Wartortle to stand back. Apep had already coiled behind Ash, hood pressed against his scales.

"I'll go first," he grinned, and tossed the pokeball. His persian was a viable option, although his fearow was always a strong player. Maybe the poochyena? Ash didn't know many of his pokemon.

What he was not expecting was an eevee.

An _eevee_.

As in, the pokemon they had stayed up for _weeks_ fantasizing about in Pallet, talking about every single evolution they had wanted to get. It stared up at him with chocolate eyes, fur well groomed and tail properly bushy. Shaking itself smoothly, it padded forward to the center of the field and barked.

Ash couldn't help but shake his head. "How did you manage to get a breeder to give you an eevee? They're only found commonly in Kalos and they're still wary about any sort of trainer going there!"

"Good luck and charisma, my fine friend." Gary grinned. "No idea on evolution yet, but we'll defeat you easy!"

Ash grinned at the challenge. While an eevee was unexpected, he wasn't pulling any punches. Time to release his hidden gem.

Siren chittered warmly as she appeared on the field, water immediately misting around her form in the humidity. She stared down at Eevee with an expression akin to moral superiority, baring her shark teeth.

Now it was Gary's turn to raise his eyebrows. "Damn, a ghost type? Well, I never said I wanted it easy. Eevee, Bite!"

Siren hissed at the dark type energy and floated higher, leaving Eevee to pace underneath her, mouth shining with shadows. "Water Pulse, Shock Wave," Ash said calmly, leaning back against Apep's cool scales.

Siren not so much as launched the Water Pulse as she did drop it, landing the ball of throbbing water directly onto Eevee's head. It squealed, dropping the Bite, and Siren was able to slam the Shock Wave right behind Eevee's neck.

Through an impressive amount of will, it was able to stay standing long enough to launch a furious Shadow Ball at Siren. She caught it across the chest and bobbed backward, hissing angrily, but another Shock Wave and Eevee was out.

Gary frowned. "Eh, he was a new pokemon. I really only brought him out to show him off. My next pokemon is far from easy." And with a flash, Poochyena appeared on the field. It shook its grey tail, baring dark fangs. Still as high-strung as Gary had described him as, but that was hardly a matter. While Ash had wanted to let Vulpix have another turn at Persian, she could start the round off here. He recalled Siren and tossed his next pokeball out.

Both pokemon were around the same size, though Vulpix's crimson fur contrasted sharply with the grey and black tones of the dark type. Both barked at each other, though Poochyena tried to take a step forward while maintaining eye contact and nearly tripped.

Ash laughed as Gary sighed. "He tries so hard to be this big, strong pokemon but I swear, he's more clumsy than a psyduck. It's almost embarrassing."

Ash took the first move this time. "Flame Burst."

"Bite! Get in there!"

Vulpix shook herself, the air heating up around her spread tails. With a bark, she spat out a ball of glistening flames. Poochyena growled and sprang backward, letting the fireball explode against the ground, though the edges of the flames caught his fur. He sprang forward, moving quickly, and nipped along Vulpix's shoulder with Bite.

She snarled, turning violently and ripping him off. Not even using her tails, she slammed into him, using her chest for Payback. Spitting out an Energy Ball, she used the time to get back and stalk around the injured Poochyena.

"Flamethrower," Ash said, narrowing his eyes. If Gary still had his Protect TM, Poochyena would probably have it.

And sure enough, a green shimmer in the air unfolded in front of Poochyena's nose, stopping the funnel of fire in its tracks. Vulpix growled and poured more power into it, but Ash called her back with another command.

"Ember around the shield. Finish it."

She sprang into action, running around Poochyena until she reached a side without Protect. Five Embers burst from her mouth and she turned around almost scarily fast, whipping them toward Poochyena with Tail Whip. After only three of them had hit, the pokemon whined and fell over.

Ash grinned. Two pokemon down. Gary frowned, a hint of frustration in his eyes, and didn't say a word as he recalled Poochyena. His next pokemon was tossed out with little fanfare.

But Persian appeared on the field with enough presence to announce herself, snarling and batting at the air with her highly developed claws. Each one was sharp enough to rake a hole through most trees without a move.

Vulpix growled at the pokemon that had hurt her so badly the last time they had battled. Persian matched it, though there was more anger in her eyes.

"Hypnosis, Power Gem, Bite!" Gary almost shouted.

"Don't make eye contact," Ash said back, thinking. "Use Payback if you feel sleepy, even if you haven't been hurt. Flamethrower."

Vulpix barked. Persian's gem began to glow a pale blue and a gentle hum filled the clearing, thrumming along the ambient noises of the Wilderness. Vulpix turned her head determinedly but didn't activate the dark type energy, stepping closer while keeping her eyes firmly tucked away.

Persian gave up and instead her gem started to glow a fearsome white, glistening. After a second, a brilliant beam of light that sparkled like a diamond snapped through the air and slammed into Vulpix's side, too turned away as she was to dodge.

She yowled, thrown backward, but she snapped back to her feet and glared. Fire trickled from her mouth and instead of a Flamethrower, she started tossing out Flame Bursts like candy. Ash just grinned and settled back. She knew what she was doing.

Persian scampered back, cutting off Bite before it even began. Explosions bloomed near her paws but she proved herself adept at dodging as more and more flew past her. At least until one scored a hit on her back paw.

Vulpix seized the weakness and launched more and more, firing seemingly endless streams of the fireballs. Persian yowled through the pain and flew toward, spurred on by Gary's shouts of "Shadow Claw!"

Try as she might, Vulpix wasn't able to dodge the five long claws flecked with darkness. One hit and she stayed standing, but another caught her trembling legs and she went down. Ash sighed and recalled her, Gary's triumphant face brilliant and shining. He couldn't resist a jab.

"Finally brought down one of mine, huh?" Ash was a bit surprised to see Gary scowl at that. He looked behind him and made eye contact with Apep, who leered over the field with a fanged grin. Persian stared up, resolute, despite her burning fur and injuries. But she soon disappeared in a flash of red the instant Apep approached her on the battlefield.

"Get out there, Wartortle," Gary said. "We aren't losing this one."

The water type grinned and pounded its fists together, hard beak shining. Apep rose over the field, brilliant and bright and powerful, his fifteen feet coiling behind him as he flexed his hood and stared across the field in an almost instinctual Leer. Wartortle met it head on and didn't flinch.

"Coil, Acid Spray, then use Thunder Fang as best you can." He kept his voice down, a grin on his face. Gary had clenched his fists and narrowed his eyes, commands spilling like rain from thunderclouds.

"Iron Defense, then Hydro Pump!"

Ash blinked at the powerful moves - Iron Defense would make it more difficult to poison Wartortle and Hydro Pump was a battle finisher, but Apep had ways around both of them. Already he was coiling over the battlefield, scales flashing brilliantly as all of his muscles tensed and grew.

Wartortle tucked its limbs in and a steel glow began to creep down from his neck, touching along each of its scales and staining them a light silver as Iron Defense came into effect. It was a difficult move, but not too much.

The battle truly began. Apep snipped Coil off and launched a blistering wave of poison, a bright shining yellow. Acid Spray crackled through the air even as Wartortle listened to Gary's furious command of Rapid Spin and flung itself away from the poison. A few chunks landed on it, but that wasn't nearly enough to break past the Iron Defense.

Apep raced forward and let a crackle of lightning burst between his fangs. It was all he could muster at this point, but as he slammed his fangs between Wartortle's neck and shell, the resulting scream showed it was enough.

Gary clenched his fists. "Hydro Pump! Now!"

The pokemon wrenched himself away from Apep and staggered back, sucking in an enormous breath. Apep started to slither away but then a verifiable _river_ of water burst from Wartortle's mouth and slammed him into the ground.

Gary grinned, finally pleased, and opened his mouth. But Apep's thoroughly soaked form ripped itself back up from the ground and hissed furiously, a bruise sprouting along his spine. Another Acid Spray slammed into the exhausted Wartortle and poisoned it fully this time, sending it to its knees. A Thunder Fang and then it was unconscious.

This time, it was Ash who laughed. "Apep, you did it!" The arbok hissed warmly, but the Hydro Pump had taken far more out of him than he'd ever admit, and he gladly slithered back behind Ash at his trainer's motion. But it was revenge, clean and sweet, something he had well earned so far.

Ash turned back to Gary. "Toss out your next pokemon - you still haven't met Ro yet!"

"I'm done. I've- I've got to have a pokemon to get me along until I can heal my pokemon back up," Gary said, shaking his head. A bitter frown was on his face, and his eyes were wild. "Until next time, Ashy-boy. Smell ya later!"

And then he turned sharply on his heel and marched out of the clearing, shoulders stick-straight, until he was out of sight.

Ash didn't understand.

* * *

 **Hey readers. It's been a while.**

 **So I'm sure you've noticed that this chapter is unbelievably short. And I do mean so- a mere three thousand words as compared to my usual twenty thousand. So I'm sure you've realized something is up.**

 **And you'd be right. I've finally realized what a mess this story is.**

 **For my loyal readers from the very beginning, you'll remember that I wrote all of those chapters right up until Brock's battle in under a month, or maybe even two weeks. I can't really remember. I took a break lasting about three months with no warning before coming back with even less warning. My chapters were only ~10,000 words back then, though I think I got to fifteen thousand soon enough, but they had the same problem as my ones now do - they only had about two thousand words of real action.**

 **But even after I took the break and came back better, I have made far too many mistakes with this fic.**

 **In my efforts to make this story new and original, I noticed a few things in pokemon stories I didn't like. Insanely powerful Ash, tons of pokemon caught and forgot about, and the world revolving around Ash. So I went out of my way to avoid them, and instead went too far in the other direction.**

 **My Ash wasn't all-powerful, but he was what I hate most - a reactive protagonist instead of a proactive one. He only reacted to problems instead of starting and creating his own, and even on things he did himself, he was never the driving force.**

 **He didn't catch pokemon willy-nilly, but all of his pokemon were similar. Sure, Apep was violent, Ro was chill, Vulpix was prideful, Siren was bloodthirsty, but that was it. They didn't have any character arcs and their styles of battling were basically the same. I've been rereading other fics and I just realized how** _ **different**_ **each of their characters are, and how pale my own are.**

 **The world didn't revolve around Ash, but it also didn't notice him. Despite doing incredible stuff that** _ **would**_ **gain notice and have an impact on the story, it ignored him. And I still showed little to nothing outside of Ash's perspective, nothing other than a few mentions to the literal Great War or life outside pokemon.**

 **And that wasn't even mentioning Ash's actual pokemon choices.**

 **Starting with an ekans wasn't the bad move. Sure, having Ash study for like three weeks and then becoming a superstar was a bit contrived, but it wasn't** _ **bad**_ **. But then I took the main character straight out of Traveler, made him even** _ **more**_ **special with kingsize, and tried to convince you this was my own story. Vulpix, again, wasn't that bad. But ultimate fire powers that can't be contested and a sad backstory and I did it again. And then a pokemon from Unova! In Kanto! With the only reason being migration! Then there was the fight with Snorlax, Proton being** _ **so damn interested in Ash and then torturing him with Psychic and giving him tiny psychic powers**_ **, and random characters fawning over Ash. I still remember when I was writing several chapters, I would straight up have the same chapter from Traveler and Challenger open just a tab away. I wasn't even trying to be original.**

 **I apologize, I truly do. I wasn't as bad as some other authors, but I've made a right mess out of what could have been an interesting story.**

 **Is this too complain-y? Probably. I guess what this ridiculously long note is me apologizing to Misfits.**

 **What you see above is what I've had written for about a month on my doc, waiting for me to finish the chapter and edit it up. I'm not going to.**

 **I won't be abandoning the original story, nor deleting this one. Maybe it'll serve as a reminder, but also I really hate people deleting stories, so anyone who wants to read the first story is welcome to.**

 **But what I will be doing is a rewrite. Problems I had with this story is that I would post chapters immediately after writing them, only running them through Grammarly, I swear. That's how they came out so frequently - but not anymore. I'm going to be changing things.**

 **Here are a few things you'll want to read if you really did like this story:**

 **I will be either heavily changing or outright removing Ro and Siren.**

 **Don't get me wrong. I adore both of them. But I can not and will not have a male or even female nidoran in this story as Ash's pokemon, just like I wouldn't have a sandile or a riolu. I will be keeping Ro's basic personality for Ash's second pokemon and I may find a way to put Siren back in this story, but they won't be nidoran or frillish any longer. I apologize to all who loved them.**

 **Apep might not be an ekans. He's my favourite, I love him, but he might not work. At the moment, he's still in my new story as an ekans, but that may change. I apologize again (boy I'm doing that a lot) but the story and plot are coming first this time around, not my love for certain pokemon. I adored ekans because I own a snake myself, but I won't let bias take over this story once again.**

 **Vulpix will stay the same, though without unstoppable fire powers and water weakness that made kind of no sense.**

 **I may take out Leaf and replace her with an OC, or not, but either way, she will be much closer to Ash and won't just be a random encounter through in. I like my characterization of her and will probably keep some hints from that, but she'll be stronger plot and story-wise.**

 **My new story will focus more on politics and the true effects of my Great War and Team Rocket. Mewtwo will exist and be an influential part, as well as other legendaries, but they'll be very changed from canon.**

 **So again, I'm very sorry. This is not the update that I'm sure you wanted to see, but I do have one last request before I throw myself into planning this new, better, updated story - tell me what you liked, and didn't like, in this story. I think I did a few things right and I'd like to not get rid of all of Misfits' influence on the new story. Even just a simple line, or a characterization, or anything at all. Suggestions, pokemon ideas, plot points - I'd like to make this new story a breathing thing that takes sustenance from all sorts of different sources.**

 **This is not only the longest Author's Note I've ever written, but also the most somber. This is the longest story, not even fanfiction, that I've ever written, and it hurts to let it go like this. But I know that it's the right decision. This story is dead, and I didn't realize it yet.**

 **But yeah! Please tell me what you liked about Misfits, maybe give it one last pity read-through, and then get ready for the new story that will be coming out as soon as I can knock down a stable plot line and get a finally decent first chapter written down.**

 **I will be keeping a fair amount from this story. I have a notes document over thirty pages long filled with all sorts of random crap that will work great, and so you may find that a lot of the earlier chapters will share the same themes. But after that, this story will change, and as I said earlier, it will be focused on many more things outside of just Ash's pokemon journey. He'll have to get political, and quickly.**

 **The new story will probably have a different name, but I'll put a notice both in Misfits and in the summary.**

 **I'm so sorry once again.**

 **Really.**

 ***apologizes** _ **again**_ *****

 **But anyway! Please read and review (for the last time on poor Misfits)!**

 **Frost OUT!**


	12. New Story

Hello everyone!

So, it's been a while. But I have finally finished the basic plot of my newest story and have posted the first chapter.

To call it a rewrite of Misfits would be a lie. I'm very sorry, but so far the only character I've kept so far is Vulpix, and even she has many things taken away or changed. In honest terms, this is a different story.

But either way, I hope you like it. Updates will be farther in between than this story, but I'm starting right off with twenty thousand words and I'm hoping to increase as time goes on.

It is called Uprising!

Bye Misfits.


End file.
